Washing feet won’t be enough: Digvijaya Singh on urination incident

Gwalior: Terming the urination incident “disrespect of the entire tribal community”, Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Friday said that merely washing the victim’s feet won’t be enough.

“It is a disrespect of the entire tribal community and merely washing feet will not be sufficient. BJP’s policies are anti-tribal and its leaders have encroached upon their land including the party MLA Kedarnath Shukla (from Sidhi) and VD Sharma (state BJP president),” Singh told reporters here.

Singh was here to review the preparations for the visit of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to Gwalior later this month. Assembly elections in MP are due by the year end.

The incident from Sidhi in which a tribal man was urinated on had sparked massive outrage. MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday washed the feet of the victim, Dashmat Rawat, at the CM’s residence in Bhopal and also apologised to him over the humiliating incident.

To a question on Congress’ prospects in the state polls, Singh said, “This time traitors will not get an opportunity and the party is coming back to power with a comfortable majority. The Congress will fulfil its promises made in the ‘Vachan Patra’ (manifesto) and it will form the government under the leadership of state party president Kamal Nath.”

Apparently referring to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Rajya Sabha member said, “People of Gwalior-Chambal division feel that their mandate was sold for crores of rupees and they are waiting to teach them a befitting lesson.”

The Kamal Nath-led Congress in MP fell in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Scindia walked out and later joined the BJP, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as chief minister.

On Scindia’s remarks during his recent visit that he has blood relations with the people of several communities in the region, Singh said, “What is new in it? We have been hearing this for a long. But he should tell what he has done for these communities.” Scindia hails from the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior.

On the Gujarat High Court dismissing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark, Singh said he has full faith in the Supreme Court and “he (Rahul) will get justice from there”.