Sidhi urination incident occurred under Congress rule, claims BJP

Bhopal: The ruling BJP on Monday claimed the incident wherein a tribal youth was peed upon by a man in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh dated back to 2019-20 when the Kamal Nath-led Congress government was in power.

On the other hand, the Congress has submitted a memorandum to MP Governor Mangubhai Patel demanding to protect the interests of tribals and alleged the number of crimes against the community is on the rise in the central state.

"The initial findings of the probe committee formed by BJP over the Sidhi incident point out that the urination incident dated back to 2019-20 when Kamal Nath was heading the Congress government in the state," MP BJP president VD Sharma told reporters.

He said an administrative report in this regard will come out soon.

"We will not allow the spreading of enmity in society through such tactics," Sharma added.

Nath, who heads the MP Congress unit, and tribal MLAs of his party met the governor at Raj Bhavan.

"Madhya Pradesh is leading the country in the number of atrocities committed against tribals. We requested the governor to protect the interests of the tribal community," Nath said.

Govind Singh, the Leader of the Opposition in the MP Assembly, said the Congress will raise the Sidhi incident and "atrocities against tribals" in the Assembly session beginning Tuesday.

"If Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not able to protect Dalits and tribals, he should resign," Singh said.

The accused in the peeing incident, Pravesh Shukla, was arrested on Wednesday based on a viral video clip. A case was registered against him under the National Security Act, Indian Penal Code, and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Amid national outrage over the incident, local authorities razed an illegal part of the house belonging to Shukla's father. The opposition Congress has demanded a CBI probe into the urination incident.

The BJP had denied Congress' claim that Shukla was associated with a BJP MLA.