Robin Hoods of Sendhwa

DB Post 29 January 2018

NK SINGH

If you have never heard of Sendhwa, there is no need to be apologetic about it. It is a dusty, small town on the south-western tip of Madhya Pradesh. The one-horse town is home to some 60,000 people, most of them traders, transporters, factory owners, farmers and government servants who depend upon surrounding tribal population for their livelihood.

The town, situated on Maharashtra border, is also home to some of the most notorious mafia families. They control illegal sand mining from Narmada and other rivers in the area, manage the erstwhile lucrative inter-state sales tax barrier a few kilometres ahead, and extort protection money from transporters and cotton ginning factories. The town has been a witness to internecine gang wars for decades.

Sendhwa was in news recently. It was the only municipality where the Mayor of the town, as well as 11 corporators, were elected unopposed. All of them belonged to BJP, the party that rules MP. BJP, naturally, patted itself on the back for this great achievement.

All other 6 candidates in the fray for Mayor’s post, including that of the Congress, the main opposition party, withdrew their nominations in favour of BJP candidate Basanti Yadav. They were apparently in awe of her and her family.

The newly-elected BJP Mayor’s two sons, Sanjay Yadav and Jitendra Yadav, unfortunately, could not join the festivities and fireworks that continued for days. With several criminal cases pending against them, including 3 murder cases, the two brothers are fugitives from law. The state government has declared a reward of Rs 5,000 for their arrest.

The most notorious of these cases is just three months old. A hired criminal entered a court room in the town in October 2017 and pumped several bullets into two accused of a murder case. The police described it as a case of gang warfare. They have made Yadav brothers accused in the sensational case, who are absconding.

Shootout in court

The victims of the court shootout too have criminal record. One of them, Gopal Joshi, was an accused in the sensational murder of Sanjay Jhanwar, described as a ‘businessman-politician’, who had contested 2008 parliamentary election on ticket of Bhartiya Janshakti Party, the party Uma Bharati had floated after quitting BJP.

The police describe them as history-sheeters, persons whose history of criminal cases, past and present, are maintained in police record. The government also tried to book Sanjay Yadav under National Security Act, but he got relief from courts. The Yadav brother were acquitted in many criminal cases in the past for lack of witnesses or evidence.

That is not surprising, considering the two brothers have carved out a Robin Hood image for themselves. They don’t bother the local people. It is their turf war to protect the ‘business’ empire that has pitted them against rivals. The town may be small, but the operators are big. The Families are divided on caste and religious lines, often fanning communal trouble.

The Yadav Family was with Congress when it ruled the state. Basanti Yadav was, actually, a Congress corporator earlier. Last year the Family joined BJP in the presence of BJP state president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. Animal Husbandry Minister Antar Singh Arya is a regular visitor to Yadavs’ house.

Absconders with minister

A video clip is making rounds in social media in which Sanjay Yadav and Santosh Singh, another accused of the court shootout case, are seen with Arya at a BJP rally. The rally was brought out on December 18, a day when both were supposed to be absconding, to celebrate party victory in Gujarat.

The ruling party is delight at the windfall it received after the Yadav Family switched from Congress to BJP. They see Basanti Yadav’s as well as other 11 BJP corporators’ unopposed election as a proof of their popularity and acceptability.

BJP’s Barwani district president Om Khandelwal said innocently that the election officer had repeatedly asked the Congress presidential candidate whether there was any pressure on her for withdrawing her nomination, but she said she was withdrawing voluntarily.

The Congress party has filed a petition before MP State Election Commission for rescinding Yadav’s election on the ground that muscle power and terror tactics were used to win. Some people may find it funny. After all the same set of people were with Congress till last year.

It is a pity that Sendhwa Mayor’s seat was reserved for women. Otherwise we could have seen probably one of the fugitive sons as the Mayor. Reports from Sendhwa say that people of the town have not stopped visiting the Yadav Family’s house to “pay their respects” ever since the election results were announced.

It is celebration time for the party, whose chief ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya had once remarked: “opportunism has shaken the confidence of people in politics.” Amen!

Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of 29 Jan 2017