By Amita Verma

Lucknow, Sep 5 (IANS): A year after the Bikru massacre in which eight police personnel were allegedly shot dead by gangster Vikas Dubey and his men in July 2020, the incident is now turning into fodder for Brahmin politics in Uttar Pradesh.

According to sources, some political parties are reaching out to Richa Dubey, wife of slain Vikas Dubey, to contest the upcoming assembly elections.

A member of the Dubey family who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that leaders from at least two parties had approached Richa with the offer.

"The leaders said that this was the only way in which she could avenge the suffering of the family and ensure a safe future for her two children. These parties have assured her that their workers will take care of her campaign," the family member said.

He said that Richa had still not made up her mind about entering politics.

"The family is being pushed to the wall and this seems to be the only option," he added.

Incidentally, Richa had contested the zila panchayat elections as a Samajwadi Party candidate in 2015. However, after the Bikru massacre, the Samajwadi Party denied that Richa was their member.

Richa had told reporters two months ago that her family was being harassed continuously and now they do not wish to live any longer.

"We request the chief minister to grant us permission for euthanasia. No one is paying heed to our grievances. We are running short of money and now I am even unable to deposit my children's school fees. I have to run my house by selling jewellery," she had said.

Richa added that not only this, the death certificate of her husband Vikas Dubey, who was killed in a police encounter, has not been given to her even after a year.

BSP MP Satish Chandra Mishra has repeatedly stated in his ‘Prabuddha Varg Sammelans' (read Brahmin Sammelans) that ‘innocent Brahmins' were targeted in the Bikru case.

Though Mishra did not comment on Vikas Dubey, he used the example of Bikru minor widow Khushi Dubey to underline his message. He said that the BSP would provide legal aid to Khushi who has been languishing in jail since the past one year.

Khushi was 16 when she married another Bikru accused Amar Dubey. Three days after her marriage, the Bikru massacre took place and Amar Dubey was killed in a police encounter thereafter.

Khushi was also booked for conspiracy and is behind the bars since then.

The Aam Aadmi Party was the first political party to fight for Khushi.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that the treatment meted out to Khushi was unjustified. "The police have not listed the charges against her but she is being denied bail even though she had been married to Amar Dubey just three days before the incident," he said.

Though other opposition parties are cautious while talking about the incident, most leaders, albeit on condition of anonymity, claim that the six accused in the incident were shot dead in ‘cold blood' because they were Brahmins.

"The police had the same script for all six encounters. We do not support the accused but they should have been arrested and tried in court instead of being shot dead in cold blood. There are several non-Brahmin mafias who are roaming free and no action is being taken against them," said a Congress leader.