‘Sunderkand’ recital at Bhopal police station sparks row: Digvijaya Singh leads Congress protest, BJP lands ‘anti-Hindu’ jab

Earlier this year, the CBI arrested 13 people, including four of its officers who had been tasked with probing irregularities in the state’s nursing colleges, after it was alleged that these officers had accepted bribes from college officials to exonerate them.

On Thursday, the Congress organised a march to the Ashoka Garden police station in the capital city to file a complaint against former state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang for his alleged involvement in the “scam”. The party earlier raised the issue to corner the BJP during the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the Assembly. The delegation was met by a BJP group outside the police station.

Even as supporters of the two rival parties shouted slogans at each other outside the station, Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh went to the spot after learning from the local media that a “Sunderkand” recital was being held at the station for a BJP worker. “Organising a ‘Sunderkand’ or any such religious event is illegal on the premises of a police station. Action should be taken against them,” said Singh.

On Friday, another Congress delegation, this time led by Singh and state Congress president Jitu Patwari, met Bhopal Police Commissioner Harinarayanachari Mishra to complain about the event. The party alleged that the recital was against service rules and demanded that the officers be investigated.

Later, Digvijaya told reporters, “I was the CM for 10 years. I know the rules and regulations. It is not written anywhere that a ‘Sunderkand’ recital can be organised inside a police station. When we asked the station in-charge, he told us that the cops had organised it to celebrate the birthday of one Naresh Jhadav. We have now decided that we will celebrate the birthdays of our party workers in police stations.” Jadhav, according to the Congress, is a local BJP councillor.

The station in-charge, Hemant Shrivastava, said, “There was a pre-planned birthday event for someone in which they decided to recite the ‘Sunderkand’.”

Patwari said, “Wherever there is a BJP government, they make a mockery of democracy. They gave permission for a private event inside a police station and there is no probe. The message is that we will not follow the service book. Either follow the service book, take administrative action against the errant police officer, or allow the Congress to organise ‘Sunderkand’ events in all police stations in Bhopal.”

The BJP later claimed that the Congress had made “anti-Hindu statements”. Party spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “Why did only Digvijaya Singh oppose the ‘Sunderkand’ event? Why does he oppose Hindus? The Congress has also organised ‘Sunderkand’ events in the past.”

In response, Congress spokesperson Mukesh Nayak said, “We don’t oppose ‘Sunderkand’ recital. We have never organised any such event inside a police station or any government office. This birthday party was organised for the local BJP councillor Naresh Jadhav. The BJP is doing everything to divert the issue. There is now even an AI-generated video of a whistleblower of the nursing college scam that’s circulating online. We will again raise these issues on Saturday.”

Another BJP spokesperson, Narendra Saluja, said, “There is a temple where a ‘Sunderkand’ event was going on. There are small dargahs and temples near police stations everywhere across the state, where all kinds of festivities take place. The Congress has shown its true colours by opposing the event.”

Nayak dismissed the BJP’s claims, saying, the party “should not try to hide its sins under the guise of religion”. He added, “Sunderkand was a cover. Their objective was to disrupt the Congress delegation when it arrived at the police station. That is exactly what happened. The people reciting the ‘Sundarkand’ put aside the Ramayana and started shouting slogans. One of them even threw a shoe, which hit a constable on the face. Even after reading ‘Sunderkand’, these people have not gained the wisdom to know how to behave properly.”