Mathura violence: The weird demands of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi group

The obscure Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi that shot into limelight in the wake of the Mathura violence is a little known cult group claiming to be followers of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The group has been making weird demands like removal of the President and the Prime Minister and discontinuation of the Indian currency.

They also want 40 litre of petrol for Re one and 60 litre of diesel for Re one. Violence erupted when police were trying to evict the heavily armed illegal occupants of Jawahar Bagh spread over 280 acres on government land in the pilgrim city of Mathura on the orders of the Allahabad High Court.

The encroachers were believed to be activists of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, an outfit that claims allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi and Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena are the two groups that have been protesting there for a very long time.

They have demanded that all the documents related to Netaji be made public. Their demands also include the cancellation of elections of the President and Prime Minister of India. They want the Indian currency to be replaced by the ‘Azad Hind Fauj Currency’.  Both these groups have been protesting for a while, leading up to the recent violence.

On April 15, the Mathura administration gave them an ultimatum to evict the land. On May 25, the administration made an attempt to evict them but failed. Police have been able to identify only one of the group’s leaders, Ram Vriksha Yadav. They have no information on any other person associated to either of the groups.

“Ram Vriksh Yadav, Chandan Bose, Girish Yadav and Rakesh Gupta are the main culprits and leaders of this group and if alive they will be caught by the police,” UP DGP Javeed Ahmed said. Police said some vehicles bearing Madhya Pradesh registration number have been found and they would be probing all angles including if there was Naxalite connection.

“15 cars and 6 motorcycles have been recovered,” the DGP said. “These activists are followers of Baba Jai Gurudeo and have named their outfit as ‘Swadheen Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi’. They have occupied hundreds of acres of land at Jawahar Bagh on the pretext of holding a ‘dharna’ for more than two years. Even after several notices were served to them, they were not ready to leave the premises,” Mathura District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar was quoted as saying.

Various attempts by the district administration to remove members of the outfit have failed in the past. In fact, the high court had last year directed the administration to take “all necessary steps and precautions” to ensure that the public park is not encroached upon. On April 15, the administration had given a 48-hour ultimatum to the outfit, but no one paid any heed to it.