Raipur: In the wake of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's request for safeguarding its Parivartan Yatra, Chhattisgarh's Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, declared on Saturday that comprehensive security measures would be extended to all political endeavors in the Naxal-affected regions of the state, in anticipation of the upcoming elections. A missive was dispatched by the BJP to the state's Director General of Police on Friday, soliciting protection for its Yatra, which is slated to commence on the 12th of September in the Naxal-infested enclave of Dantewada. The party expressed mistrust towards the Congress government in the state, citing instances of BJP leaders being singled out and subjected to fatal assaults within the Bastar region.
The state is gearing up for assembly elections slated to culminate by the end of this calendar year. When queried about this development on the fringes of an event, CM Baghel articulated, "A complete security blanket shall envelop all political factions. We bear the painful recollection of losing our stalwarts in the Jhiram Ghati incident of 2013." "In the most recent conclave of the unified command, which comprises security apparatuses, explicit directives have been issued, mandating the provisioning of comprehensive security for all political undertakings within the Naxal-affected territories," he conveyed to the press.
On the 25th of May, 2013, on the eve of the assembly elections, Maoist insurgents unleashed a devastating attack on a convoy of Congress dignitaries during the party's 'Parivartan Rally' in the Jhiram valley, located in the Bastar district, resulting in the tragic demise of 29 individuals, including the then-state Congress chief, Nand Kumar Patel, the erstwhile leader of the opposition, Mahendra Karma, and former Union minister V C Shukla. When probed regarding the ongoing G20 summit, CM Baghel opined, "During (the tenure of former Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi, an assembly was convened that drew participation from over a hundred nations. Regrettably, certain heads of state are conspicuous by their absence from the current gathering. Furthermore, even the opposition has not been accorded an invitation... As of now, the summit's deliberations do not appear to yield any discernible outcomes; we shall keenly observe the developments in the days to come."
In response to reporters' inquiries on Friday regarding his attendance at a G20 dinner scheduled for Saturday, Baghel lamented that he was unable to attend due to Delhi's imposition of a no-fly zone. The Union Home Ministry, in a statement released on Saturday, clarified that no restrictions had been imposed on the utilization of state aircraft by governors and chief ministers for travel to Delhi or neighboring locales.
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