Congress rebel and Independent MLA Naresh Meena was arrested on November 14 for thrashing an official during the poll time of Rajasthan’s Tonk district. India’s Election Commission barred Meena, a candidate of the Deoli-Uniara assembly constituency, after she was caught on November 13 assaulting sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Amit Chaudhary at a polling booth, agencies report.
The Congress had suspended Meena last week after he chose to fight it out as an Independent after the party refused to give him a ticket. The Deoli-Uniara seat fell vacant when Harish Chandra Meena of Congress was elected to the Lok Sabha in June this year. In this bypoll it chosen Kastor Chand Meena as party candidate.
Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot condemned the assault and pointed at the BJP led state government for it and expressed concern over the incident. Many a times one got wondering why we developed a scenario that an SDM was slapped. Of course that was a question that was running round my head like a reel, How did he (Naresh Meena) have the courage to do such a thing? The BJP has no patience for the suggestions of the opposition. This year, what has the state government been up to? It shows that once people aren’t afraid, they start to become the judge, jury and executioner. This is the scenario across the state today,” Gehlot said this.
After the scuffle, the RAS association called for Meena’s arrest because of attacking the Malpura SDM. The association threatened a pen-down strike if Meena was not arrested by Thursday morning.
The increase in such an event also shows that pregnancy-related violence has become more rampant in the past few months, especially as tensions intensify before the bypolls in Rajasthan. The response that has been received from the administrative officials as well as the public has in turn focus on law and order issues that are being experienced in the current state government. The factor of the arrest of Meena has emerged as a subject of political targeting amidst campaigns to the election.
