The BJP in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district has filed a police complaint against the Congress, accusing it of spreading false information about the caste of a woman sarpanch.
The woman had previously alleged that she was not permitted to hoist the national flag and was not provided a chair during a village meeting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contends that the woman in question belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and is not a Dalit, as claimed by the Congress.
These claims emerged following allegations made by Shraddha Singh, the sarpanch of Akouna village panchayat. Singh had reported that on August 15, during the Independence Day celebrations, she was not allowed to hoist the tricolour and was not provided a chair to sit on during a gram sabha.
BJP’s Satna mandal general secretary, Keshav Kori, filed a complaint against the Congress, accusing it of “posting a message to mislead people by describing a woman sarpanch as a Dalit leader when she actually belongs to the OBC community.”
In a post on X, the Congress claimed, “A Dalit woman sarpanch of Akouna village was not given a chair to sit in a meeting. When she demanded a chair, those present asked her to bring one from home or sit on the floor.” The party further stated, “Previously, she was not allowed to hoist the flag because she belongs to the Dalit community. This is a serious issue, and stern action should be taken against the accused.”
However, state BJP’s organisation general secretary, Hitanand Sharma, responded on X, saying, “Both the sarpanch and the secretary belong to the same caste—Kurmi—and any differences between them should not be given a caste angle to mislead people.”
In his complaint to the City Kotwali police station in Satna, Kori demanded an investigation against Congress leaders for posting misleading information on social media and called for a case to be registered against them.
Meanwhile, based on media reports and Shraddha Singh’s allegations in a video message on social media, Satna District Panchayat’s chief executive officer (CEO), Sanjana Jain, issued a show-cause notice to the Akouna village panchayat secretary.
After recording statements from all involved parties, the CEO’s report stated that Shraddha Singh arrived to hoist the national flag after 9 a.m., despite the scheduled time being 8 a.m. The organisers had called her three times, but she did not arrive until 9 a.m., prompting the deputy sarpanch to hoist the flag.
The investigation also revealed that she was offered a chair to sit during the program.
