Politicisation of Murder: Kanhaiya Lal Case in Udaipur high on Political beat
The family of slain tailor Kanhaiya Lal Sahu does not appreciate that his name and the murder be dragged into politics
The tragic incident of murder of Kanhaiya Lal Sahu in Udaipur 16 months ago has gained prominence in political speeches across Rajasthan. Political parties, mostly the state opposition, is time and again highlighting this incident with an intent to reflect on poor governance by the incumbent Rajasthan government. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in his public address in Udaipur on 9 November, also mentioned this incident to highlight the BJPs concern over poor policing and law and order in Rajasthan, which is one of their agenda points in the campaign for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Elections.
The very next day, on 10 November, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, during his visit to Udaipur, counterattacked the BJP by sharing pictures of BJP leaders with tailor's murderers.
Amidst all this incident based campaigning, the family members of slain tailor Kanhaiya Lal including his wife Jasoda, sons Yash and Tarun reacted to the politicisation of this incident and said that the parties, instead of using his father's name should focus on getting justice for them and ensure that the accused should be sentenced to death as soon as possible.
Yash, his younger son, in an interaction with local media, said "My father Kanhaiya Lal's name is being used as a political weapon by the political parties. Instead of taking action on the murderers and closing the case, it has became a political agenda for the upcoming elections, due to which we all are hurt. Why justice is being delayed, why the agencies are not getting the culprits punished and why even a copy of the chargesheet is still not providing to us till now". "In the initial months, many politicians, local leaders came to visit us, bot no one has turned up in the last one year. We do not want Politics, we want Justice", he added.
Despite the government providing government jobs to both the sons and security to the family, the ashes of Kanhaiya Lal are yet to be incinerated as the family is awaiting justice.
The BJP asserts that Kanhaiya Lal's murder reflects poorly on the Congress government in Rajasthan. In contrast, the Congress alleges that the individuals responsible for the murder are affiliated with the BJP. Congress leaders further accuse BJP leaders of endorsing the perpetrators, pointing to photographic evidence as support for their claims.
The incident that shocked the entire nation took place at Udaipur on 28 June 2022 where Kanhaiya Lal Sahu, a tailor by profession was hacked to death by two assilants, Riyaz Attari and Gaus Mohammed. The incident took place in broad daylight at Kanhaiya Lal's tailoring shop, Supreme Tailors, which he operated out of Maldas Street at Hathipol in Udaipur.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had produced the Chargesheet of the matter in front of the special court on 22 December 2022 and the matter is still under consideration in Court.