Ranbir Sena chief gets a statue at home

Patna: Union and state ministers are likely to attend the unveiling of a statue of Brahmeshwar Nath Singh alias Brahmeshwar Mukhiya, the murdered chief of the Ranvir Sena, a private army of upper-caste landowners of south and central Bihar, at his village on Friday.

Supporters of Mukhiya, who was murdered in Ara on June 1, 2012, are set to install his statue at Khopira village under Agiaon block of Bhojpur district around 82km southwest of Patna.

Mukhiya’s eldest son and Akhil Bharatiya Rashtravadi Kisan Sangathan national president Indu Bhushan Singh said on Thursday that a number of dignitaries, including Union and state ministers, have agreed to attend Mukhiya’s sixth death anniversary.

The foundation stone of a memorial building will also be laid on the occasion, Indu Bhushan said.

A staunch supporter of Mukhiya said under cover of anonymity: “The leaders will make a beeline at Khopira on Friday to pay their homage to the departed leader. This will be a testimony to Mukhiyaji’s popularity.”

Mukhiya was accused of plotting 29 caste massacres in which a more than 300 people, mostly belonging to the backward castes and Dalits, were butchered by armed Ranvir Sena members. The murder of Mukhiya in Katira locality of Ara, the Bhojpur district headquarters town, had led to large-scale violence in Ara and Patna. His supporters went berserk damaging public and private property in Patna during his funeral procession. They also heckled then director-general of police (DGP) Abhayanand when he visited Ara to take stock of the situation in the wake of the murder.

Mukhiya’s grandson Chandan Singh said the unveiling of the statue would be followed by a meeting of representatives of the Sangathan.

“A decision to remove the present national president (Indu Bhushan) from the post can be taken at the proposed meeting,” Chandan told The Telegraph over phone.

Indu Bhushan had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the Patliputra seat in Patna. In 2015, he also tried his luck from the Tarari Assembly seat in Bhojpur district but lost to Sudama Prasad of the CPI-ML (Liberation).

Mukhiya’s supporters are also not happy with the slow progress in the CBI investigation in Mukhiya’s murder case.

The state government had recommended the central probe under pressure from Mukhiya’s supporters. A few BJP leaders like Giriraj Singh (then animal husbandry and fisheries minister and now Union minister) had described Mukhiya as “Gandhian thinker and a farmer leader who had faith in peace and social harmony.”

Though the CBI is yet to make any significant breakthrough in the case, the special investigation team (SIT) led by then Bhojpur superintendent of police M.R. Naik had said Mukhiya’s murder was prima facie the fallout of internal conflicts and war of supremacy within the organisation. The SIT had made many arrests, but Nand Gopal Pandey alias Fauzi, suspected to be the main accused in the murder case, is still absconding.

The state government had also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for Fauzi’s arrest.

Courtesy: The Telegraph