Ahead of the polls, Chhattisgarh faces one of the worst Maoist attacks. The 40 year old BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi along with 4 other police officers were killed by Maoists. This has also been declared as one of the worst cases of poll violence by the Odisha Balangir Committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Bhima Mandavi was a 40 year old MLA who had snatched the reserve constituency of Dantewada from the Congress contestant Devti Karma last year in the assembly poll elections. Mandavi was the lone MLA in the region of Bastar from the BJP. The MLA was brave to go out to campaign despite being warned by the local police. The Maoist had warned the people of the region not to vote in this election.
The MLA had already defeated the Congress contestant last year and he was brave in going out for campaigning again this year. The threats and warnings did not stop him. He was determined to complete his campaign and not let the extremist win and their agendas be fulfilled. The dauntless spirit of Bhima Mandavi was commendable. He set an example of service for the people and the nation.
The commendable courage of the MLA has been appreciated by party members and the Prime Minster himself as well. The lawmaker along with the 4 police officer was travelling in the bulletproof SUV. The Maoist however had the knowledge about which convoy had to be exactly targeted. The incidence took place around 4:45pm, 4km from Kuakonda. The BJP has asked for a postponement of the elections, but the Chief Electoral Officer has assured a smooth election process.
The Party has shown its condolences to the demised MLA. The Prime Minister has also condemned the attack strongly.
Strongly condemn the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh. My tributes to the security personnel who were martyred. The sacrifices of these martyrs will not go in vain.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 9, 2019
The DGP said, “A contingent of 50 DRG personnel from Dantewada had accompanied him on motorcycles to Netapur, Tannenar, Metapal and other places and finally to Dantewada BJP office around 1pm.”
The attack has brought to surface major concerns about safety at polling booths as well as around the upcoming elections as a whole. The state of Chhattisgarh is under the threat of the Left Wing extremism once again. It has been seen that the left wing that was crumbled under the NDA and BJP reign has once again sprung up under the rule of the Congress party. The Congress Party has done nothing to stop this left extremism. The left wing Maoists have been putting posters around to boycott election. The ruling Congress Party has done nothing to stop the terror that has been established once again in the state. It is the responsibility of the party to assure the safety of the people of the state which it has failed to do.