On November 14, a day after a conflict between his supporters and the Tonk police turned violent, 45-year-old Naresh Meena was lastly arrested following a skirmish and a few tense moments. A day earlier than, visuals of burning autos on polling day appeared uncommon for Rajasthan, the place elections have been largely peaceable within the latest previous.
Bother started on polling day, November 13, after Congress insurgent Meena who’s an Impartial candidate from the Deoli-Uniara Meeting bypoll slapped Sub-Divisional Justice of the Peace Amit Chaudhary, accusing the latter of threatening and abusing folks at a polling sales space the place locals had been boycotting elections. Meena alleged that Chaudhary was working on the behest of the BJP.
The visuals led to an uproar, together with from Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officers. However for Meena, who has had about two dozen police instances, this was nothing new. Since 2002, when the primary police case was lodged in opposition to him, Meena has had fairly a number of instances filed in opposition to him for “assault or legal power to discourage a public servant from discharge of his official obligation.” Different expenses in opposition to him embody blocking highways and railway tracks, assault, injury to public property, inciteful speeches, and injuring police officers.
Meena was born right into a political household in Nayagaon village of Baran district’s Atru tehsil. His father Kalyan Singh was a sarpanch for about three many years, whereas his mom is at the moment a sarpanch. Meena’s spouse Sunita is a Zila Parishad member and his youthful brother’s spouse is a Panchayat Samiti member.
Meena began out in pupil politics, changing into the overall secretary of Rajasthan College’s pupil union within the early 2000s as a candidate of the Nationwide College students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’s pupil wing. Over time, Meena’s proximity to senior Congress chief Sachin Pilot grew and he was seen as a Pilot camp chief whereas additionally idolising the BJP’s Kirodi Lal Meena, a state Cupboard minister. Each Pilot and Kirodi Lal maintain appreciable affect in japanese Rajasthan.
Whether or not it’s the Congress or the native administration, Meena has constructed a status of getting a rebellious fashion harking back to Kirodi Lal, who is named a insurgent inside the BJP and even the federal government – embarrassing it on a number of events. Kirodi Lal didn’t hesitate to specific himself publicly and infrequently sat on protests underneath the earlier Congress authorities.
Naresh Meena’s comparable antics have earned him the sobriquet “Chhota Kirodi”. In 2017, he’s mentioned to have minimize his thumb and utilized a tilak on Kirodi’s brow along with his blood. Nonetheless, the elder Meena hasn’t essentially reciprocated Naresh’s overtures, maybe resulting from totally different political ideologies and to forestall Naresh from gaining political capital, particularly inside the Meena neighborhood.
In September 2020, Naresh, who had examined constructive for Covid-19, was arrested by the Baran police whereas he was protesting in opposition to unlawful mining – embarrassing the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress authorities – exterior a police station. After the most recent incident too, Gehlot attacked the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP authorities in addition to Pilot – the latter not directly – over Meena’s slap, saying, “What’s the thriller? We don’t know. Who incited him (to contest), who didn’t cease him from contesting? If he wasn’t contesting, then it was actually our seat.”
In Pilot’s context too, Meena hasn’t had a lot luck by way of tickets. Regardless of having constructed a substantial help base within the final twenty years, he has been ignored by the Congress throughout elections, main him to insurgent.
Within the 2023 Meeting elections, the Congress selected Karan Singh over Meena from Chhabra. Meena, contesting as an Impartial, polled near 44,000 votes, whereas Singh misplaced to the BJP’s Pratap Singh Singhvi by 5,100 votes. The Congress then expelled him for six years.
He was introduced again into the celebration this March forward of the Lok Sabha elections. Nonetheless, days later, he embarrassed Murari Lal Meena who was declared because the Congress candidate from Dausa.
At a rally for Murari, Naresh Meena mentioned he was requested to affix the celebration after being promised a ticket, however the celebration as a substitute fielded Murari. He mentioned that if Murari turned the MP and his daughter Niharika an MLA, what would occur to folks like him. He requested Murari to withdraw and again him as a substitute. He then filed his candidature as an Impartial however the celebration satisfied him to withdraw.
As soon as once more, within the bypoll for Deoli-Uniara, Meena was ignored, prompting him to contest as an Impartial. Shifting slowly, the celebration’s Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa issued Meena’s suspension order on November 7, per week after the final date for withdrawing nominations, which was October 30, and simply six days earlier than voting on November 13.
Naresh Meena’s antics might have received him some supporters – and detractors – however the slapping incident occurred a lot in a while polling day and will not have quite a lot of bearing on the outcome, which will probably be out on November 23. Both approach, he’ll nonetheless be in judicial custody when the outcomes are declared.
