INDIA. Mumbai: The Congress has demanded a judicial probe into the recent suicidal death of an Independent MP Mohan Sanjibhai Delkar (58) in a Mumbai hotel and also the removal of Dadra and Nagar Haveli administrator Praful Khodabhai Patel.
Pawan Khera, a National Spokesperson of Indian National Congress in a media briefing on February 26 said that the Dadra and Nagar Haveli administrator Praful Khodabhai Patel should be booked for abetment to suicide by Delkar and he should be immediately removed from the post. Besides a judicial commission should be set up to inquire into the matter since Delkar ended his life due to harassment by Patel and other officers at his behest. Delkar had aired out his grievances in Lok Sabha in September 2020.
Delkar was not allowed to work during the COVID-19 epidemic, attempts were made to demolish the SSR College of Arts, Science and Commerce set up by his father at Silvassa. He was humiliated and was not invited to official functions. He had even donated land for NAMO Medical Education and Research Institute being set up by the Union Health Ministry. Yet he was harassed. If this is the fate of seven-term MP then what would be a plight of a common man, Khera questioned.
Organized criminalization in politics
“ Leaving the central investigative agencies against their political rivals, disrupting the governments elected by the governors and administrators, tearing apart the constitution, Modi and Amit Shah saheb are putting new traditions of organized criminalization in politics” Khera tweeted.
Tribal rights advocate Delkar had come to Mumbai on February 21, to attend a court hearing of one of his supporters, but hanged himself from the ceiling fan at Hotel Sea Green South in, in South Mumbai on Monday, February 22, 2021, leaving a 15-page suicide note. The note held politicians and administrative officials responsible for “injustice”, “insult” and “bias” meted out to him and specifically named Praful Khodabhai Patel. Delkar was cremated with full state honors on February 23 at his home town Silvassa in presence of a large number of his supporters.
Maharashtra Govt to probe BJP’s role in Delkar’s suicide
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has already announced to conduct a probe into the BJP’s role in Delkar’s suicide”, to check if he was being pressured by officials at the behest of the Central Government.
Delkar’s son Abhinav in the video statement said “There are many people responsible for my father’s suicide and I request Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police to bring the culprits to justice and punish those who were responsible for my father’s death. I appeal to the people to remain calm”.
First politically appointed administrator
Patel took charge as the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in August 2016. He was the first politically appointed administrator in the history of the union territories, a position that had previously been held only by officers from the Indian Administrative Services. In 2010, Amit Shah resigned as the minister of state for home in Gujarat, after he was arrested in connection with the allegedly staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Shah was the prime accused in the case. Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time, chose Patel to succeed Shah.
Gujarat BJP distances away
Patel could not be reached. When contacted Gujarat state BJP Chief Chandrakant R Patil told the “Transcontinental Times” that Gujarat BJP was in no way related to Patel since he was not connected to Gujarat BJP now.
Delkar started his career as a trade union leader in Silvassa and fought for the rights of tribal people working in different factories. Later, he set up “Adivasi Vikas Sangathan” for the tribals in 1985. In 1989, he was elected to the 9 th Lok Sabha, from Dadra and Nagar Haveli constituency as an independent candidate. In 1991 and 1996 he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket. In 1998, he was again elected to the Lok Sabha as a BJP candidate. In 1999 and 2004, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha as an independent and the Bharatiya Navshakti Party(BNP) candidate respectively. On February 04, 2009, he re-joined Congress and unsuccessfully contested in 2009 and 2014. In 2019 he distanced himself from Congress and was elected as an independent candidate. However, in 2020, he joined the Janata Dal(United) party.
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