Ishwar Sahu, Riot Victim’s Father, Beats 7-Term Congress MLA in Chhattisgarh
CHATTISGARH: Chhattisgarh’s Saja constituency, Ishwar Sahu, a BJP candidate and a laborer who was a victim of a riot, secured victory over the seven-time winning Congress MLA and Minister Ravindra Choubey. Sahu, with 1,01,789 votes, triumphed by a margin of 5,196 votes, while the Congress contender secured 96,593 votes, securing the second position.
Barring the 2013 assembly elections when he lost it to a BJP candidate, Choubey had been winning the Saja constituency seat since 1985. In Bhupesh Baghel’s cabinet, he was serving as parliamentary affairs minister of Chhattisgarh. From 2009 to 2013, he was the leader of the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.
On the other hand, Ishwar Sahu is not a career ‘politician’, he is a labourer and riot victim, whose son was killed by a Muslim mob, who was fielded by BJP against Congress’ veteran leader on this seat. During campaigning, Ishwar Sahu repeatedly launched a scathing attack on Congress’ sitting MLA and said that as a public representative, Ravindra Choubey did not fulfil his duty.
He had asserted that those who are giving protection to the accused murderers who were part of the Jihadi frenzy in Biranpur of Saja assembly constituency under appeasement politics and putting innocent youth in jail cannot understand our pain.
Notably, Ishwar Sahu’s son Bhuvaneshvar Sahu was killed in a communal clash in Biranpur village in April, this year. The incident unfolded on 8th April when a Hindu youth was attacked and killed with a sword by a Muslim mob in the Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh. The clashes broke out after a minor dispute took place between two schoolchildren. About a dozen persons sustained injuries including police personnel in the subsequent clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities.
The incident reportedly took place in the Bemetara district’s Biranpur village of the Saja assembly constituency.