The Bharatiya Janata Party finds itself in a mire after family members of one of the martyrs of Uri attack accused a BJP MP of treating them as ‘beggars’ by trying to raise a donation even while they were mourning.
“We were reduced from a hero’s family to that of a beggar’s by BJP MP from Sant Kabir Nagar Sharad Tripathi,” Kalawati Devi, mother of Sepoy Ganesh Shankar Yadav said.
Ganesh Shankar Yadav was one of the unarmed sepoys who were killed in terrorist attack in Uri. When his body was brought to native village Dhurupali in Sant Kabir Nagar, many local leaders visited his residence to pay their homage. Sharad Tripathi, too came to pay his condolence.
The villagers are angry over Tripathi’s behaviour. The message has spread like wild fire that BJP leaders have insulted martyr’s family. The local BJP unit tried to placate the angry villagers by saying that MP sahib will get a gate constructed at the village on the martyr’s name but the appeal failed to cut ice.
Kalawti said that BJP MP came with his supporters and sat there for almost an hour. “Suddenly, we saw one of the supporters of BJP MP spread out a `angochcha’ (towel) on the ground and people started throwing currency notes. Heaps of currency notes was collected there in no time,” she said.
Yadav’s widow Gudia said: “As soon as we came to know what was going on, we felt very humiliated. We are not beggars. We objected to this behviour after which the MP and his supporters left .”
“We had not asked for money. We had only expected due respect. But he (the MP) insulted a martyr who had laid down his life for the nation,” the slain soldier’s wife said.
“What this MP did was beyond my imagination. The entire village is furious with him.” Arjun Yadav, a relative of Ganesh, said
The Sant Kabir Vikas Manch, a local social organisation, said that although it could do nothing to reverse the insult handed to a martyr by a politician, it would try to honour the slain sepoy by installing his statue in the village. “It will be installed soon and unveiled on January 26 next year,” said Dara Singh, the convener of the Manch
Sharad Tripathi did not pick up the phone but his father Ramapati Ram Tripathi said that his MP son had no intention to insult the family and probably wanted to help.
“Probably, the occasion was not right and Sharad failed to gauge the sentiments of the family members,” Ramapati Ram Tripathi, the former state BJP president said.