As the ill-famed Jawahar Bagh opened to the public again this week, local residents cheered on the valour and the spirit of the Mathura police. Posters reading "Thank you Mathura Police" and "Salute to SO Santosh Yadav" were pasted along the walls of the gate in gratitude for the khaki men who lost their lives in the uncomprehended clash.
At least 27 people lost their lives including those of a Superintendent of Police after violence ensued in the otherwise calm city of Mathura. The Swadhin Bharat cult's land grap in the area has been an issue with the state government since 2014. As senior police officials led a police evacuation team in a bid to free the land encroached, little did they know what was in store for them. Moving on the orders of the Allahabad High Court, the police came face to face with people who claim to belong to the 'Netaji' sect armed with guns, swords, grenades and knives.
The violence erupted when the police tried to evict the illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Thursday on the directions of the Allahabad High Court. The protesters allegedly started firing on the police officials as they reached the spot and used teargas initially. Mathura police said two bullets hit Station Officer Santosh Yadav who was later declared dead on arrival by doctors at Niyati Hospital. "These activists were followers of Baba Jai Gurudev and have named their outfit 'Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi'. They have occupied hundreds of acres of land at Jawahar Bagh on the pretext of holding a dharna for more than two years. Even after several notices were served to them, they were not ready to leave the premises," said District Magistate, Rajesh Kumar.
As critics weighed down heavily on the administration for their lack of preparation, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav admitted there were "lapses" on the part of the police and the district administration in preparing the operation. Putting aside their lack of groundwork for the D-day, the issue at hand is the piling up of arms, ammunition, and crude bombs, of the cult, right under the administration's nose. Not only were the locals in the area under danger, the ground is along the same road were offices of the district magistrate, Mathura district court, police control room, reserve police line and Mathura jail. People have called 'Operation Jawahar Bagh', which was planned for over a month, ill-conceived.
The cult under question are followers of a self-proclaimed spiritual leader, Jai Gurudev who has properties worth hundreds of crores to his name. There is a school and a petrol pump owned by Jai Gurudev Trust and the leader's fleet of cars include Mercedes Benz, Skodas, and BMWs. The group has been making weird demands for the past two years, including removal of the President and the Prime Minister and discontinuation of the Indian currency. They have also demanded all the documents related to Netaji be made public, cancellation of elections of the President and Prime Minister of India, 40 litre of petrol and 60 litre of diesel be given for Re One respectively, and the weirdest being the Indian currency be replaced by the 'Azad Hind Fauj Currency'.
As many as 124 people have been arrested on charges of murder and rioting, after the incident, and are in all probabilities to be slapped with charges under the stringent National Security Act. The state government issued a press release saying 2500-3000 men, women, and children were staying at Jawahar Bagh under the SBSS banner. Offices and residential quarters of the horticulture department were illegally taken over and huts and tents were erected by people of the cult. The main accused include Ram Vriksha Yadav, Chandan Bose, Rinku, Amit, Rampal, Dhiraj Singh, Rakesh Gupta, Viresh Yadav, Laxman Pasi and Munnilal.
