‘Panchayat’ in support of Satyapal Malik
Residents of Hisawada and Dhikoli villages in Baghpat district, western Uttar Pradesh, have threatened a special “panchayat” soon “to warn the Centre to stop atrocities against Satya Pal Malik or prepare to witness a state-wide protest”.
“We shall hold panchayats in Hisawada, the former governor’s (Malik’s) ancestral village, and Dhikoli, where he had studied at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Inter College,” Anu Malik, vice-president of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, a farmers’ and workers’ body, said.
“The residents of these villages (17km from each other) have an emotional attachment to him and will not allow anybody to harass him just because of his uprightness.”
Malik, who recently raised grave questions about the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s purported response that evening, has been summoned by the CBI to provide “clarifications” relating to a corruption racket he had earlier flagged.
Supporters of the former Jammu and Kashmir governor staged sit-ins at two Delhi police stations on Saturday after being disallowed from congregating at a south Delhi park. Malik has said that similar shows of support will be held in Rajasthan and Haryana too.
He had earlier publicly suggested, without mentioning names, that “they (the Centre)” would be in trouble “if they touch me” because “I have a strong community (Jat)” and “solidarity with farmers”.
A large number of Malik’s supporters from Baghpat, located in Delhi’s backyard, had set off for the national capital on Saturday when a rumour about Malik having been arrested during the standoff with the police began spreading. They turned back midway after learning that the former governor was back home.
Om Veer Dhaka, a Rashtriya Lok Dal leader from Baghpat, said: “We will stand by Malik if the government tries to suppress his voice. We will be part of the panchayat to be held in Hisawada and Dhikoli.”
Farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said: “Malik had called khap (traditional village council) leaders and some farmers for lunch at his residence in Delhi. However, he realised that the space at his residence was not large enough and so shifted the venue to a nearby park. Some cops came and unnecessarily tried to stop us from holding any such event there.”
Malik had told The Wire journalist Karan Thapar in a recent interview that when, as then Jammu and Kashmir governor, he had blamed the 2019 Pulwama massacre on the Centre’s own lapses, Modi had told him “tum abhi chup raho”. Malik had added that the Prime Minister “does not hate corruption very much” and is “ill-informed”.
In the same interview, he had reiterated allegations of corruption involving the BJP, which he claimed Modi was aware of. He named a business house, a former Jammu and Kashmir minister, and an RSS leader in connection with his allegations.
The CBI wants to question him in connection with one of these corruption allegations.
