Pankaj Mishra, a CRPF jawan associated with the 221 battalion in West Bengal’s Durgapur district, took his frustration to Facebook Live. His target: government apathy. Mishra, who said he lost a relative in the Sukma attack, directly addressed Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
“I’ve heard that the DG sahab and some other officer are planning to visit Sukma,” Mishra said. “I want to tell them that there’s no use going there. You should send 20-25 battalions and get the operation started…I want to tell Rajnath Singh. Rajnath Singh ji, you are not turning out to be a good political leader. Under your stewardship, CRPF personnel are being beaten by canes. Under your leadership, the CRF men are being martyred.”
He also added that people hadn’t voted for Singh but for Modi: “I want to let everyone know the same CRPF jawans provide security to Amit Shah and other VIP leaders. I also want to add that Rajnath Singh ji that we did not vote for you or the BJP. We voted for Modi.”
This is not the first such message on Mishra’s profile, which frequently has posts about the difficulties faced by soldiers. Mishra had earlier given an interview to The Times of India expressing solidarity with Tej Bahadur Yadav, who had criticised the conditions under which soldiers had been working.
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