Over 5,000 members of the Tyagi community attended a mahapanchayat in Noida on Sunday to protest the arrest of politician Shrikant Tyagi, accused of abusing and pushing a woman, and “harassment of his wife by the BJP government” in Uttar Pradesh.
The Sanyukt Tyagi Swabhiman Morcha, the organiser of the rally at the Ramlila Ground in the Gejha area of Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) district, said the community, a Brahmin sub-caste, had committed a “blunder” by supporting the BJP in elections and threatened to wipe out the party from west Uttar Pradesh and Haryana if Shrikant was not released.
Shrikant, who claims to be a national executive member of the BJP Kisan Morcha and coordinator of the BJP Yuva Kisan Samiti, was booked by police on August 6 for verbally abusing and manhandling a woman at Grand Omaxe Society when she confronted him over illegal constructions.
He was arrested three days later. The BJP has denied any link with Shrikant, but has had to face the ire of the Tyagi community.
BJP leaders, including some elected representatives, have been trying to mollify the Tyagis since then, as pent-up anger among other communities such as Rajputs and Gurjars have also found a vent. Shrikant and three associates — Nakul Tyagi, Sanjay Kumar and driver Rahul Kumar — were arrested from Meerut on August 9 and booked under the Gangster Act.
The Tyagi community has alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government in general and Mahesh Sharma, the BJP MP of Noida, were harassing Shrikant and his family for a “minor crime”.The Morcha at Sunday’s rally felicitated six associates of Shrikant who had been arrested on August 7 for allegedly threatening the woman to withdraw the case.
The six were released on furnishing personal bonds last week.Lokendra Tyagi, one of the youths felicitated with shawls, read out a purported message of Shrikant from jail. “Shrikant has said that people must have seen gangsters becoming politicians, but it is for the first time that a politician has been branded as a gangster.
He has said he will keep fighting for the welfare of the community.”The protesters at the mahapanchayat carried placards bearing pictures of Shrikant’s wife and children with slogans such as “Hamari behen akeli nahin (Our sister is not alone)” and “Yeh bachche akele nahin (These children are not alone)”.
Prempal Tyagi, the chief of the Morcha, said: “We committed a blunder by supporting the BJP in past elections but we can erase it from west Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for the crime it has committed against the Tyagi community. We demand that Shrikant be released and the charges under the Gangster Act withdrawn. “We condemn him for misbehaving with a woman but the punishment is too much. It happened because the BJP dislikes the Tyagi community. We had attended the BJP’s programmes along with Shrikant but the party and the government have now dumped him.”Narendra Tyagi, a leader of the Rashtriya Brahmrishi Mahasangh that participated in the mahapanchayat, said: “We will intensify our protest against the BJP government if it doesn’t release Shrikant and drop the Gangster Act charges and other cases against him. We also want the police to withdraw all cases against his friends and associates or we’ll defeat the BJP in the next elections.”A huge force was deployed at the residence and hospital of Sharma, the Noida MP who is also a doctor. He had written to Noida police commissioner Alok Singh apprehending that the protesters could attack him and vandalise his residence and hospital.
Assault arrestNoida police on Sunday arrested a woman on the charge of assaulting a guard for delay in opening the gate of her apartment complex. JP Wish Town Bhavya Rai allegedly held Anup Kumar by the collar and abused and assaulted him. “She was drunk. I couldn’t immediately open the gate when she was going out because I was noting down the number of another car, which was about to enter. She said she was a lawyer and would kill me,” Kumar stated in his police complaint.As the video of the incident became viral on social media, many dubbed Rai “Lady Tyagi”.
