Was Chandrashekhar's murder not jungle raj: Pradhan to CPI(ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday attacked CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya over his comments on NDA trying to gain votes by creating "fear of jungle raj" in Bihar, saying he is trying to hide from a brutal truth, and reminded him of the killing of Left activist Chandrashekar Prasad in 1997.

Before 2005, Bihar was in a state of "jungle raj -- this is a fact acknowledged by the courts", the BJP leader asserted.

"....he is dismissing the brutal truth of jungle raj. It clearly seems like he's portraying the jungleraj of Lalu Raj as white as milk. Before 2005, Bihar was in a state of jungleraj -- this is a fact acknowledged by the courts. Therefore, for the leaders of the Mahagathbandhan to refuse to accept it is like hiding their faces from the truth," Pradhan said in a post on X.

Referring to the assassination of the CPI(ML) Liberation student leader allegedly at the behest of RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin, he said, "If Chandrashekhar's murder is not jungle raj, then according to Comrade Dipankar, what exactly is jungleraj?" "Will the leaders of the Mahagathbandhan and the Left explain whether the brutal murder of Chandrashekhar Chandu and his sacrifice was not the grotesque face of jungleraj...

"The entire country knows that Chandu's murder was carried out at the behest of Shahabuddin. Will Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya not go to campaign for Osama, the son of that very Shahabuddin? He should respond to this," he added.

Pradhan claimed that the entire country knows that from 1990 to 2005, Bihar was forced to endure the horrors of jungle raj.

"Murder, violence, kidnapping, and extortion were the fundamental character of Lalu Prasad's regime," he said. PTI GJS RT