Minister Bagri, Cong’s Ahirwar present records in SC certificate probe

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh minister of state Pratima Bagri on Monday appeared before the state’s high-level caste scrutiny committee and submitted documents in support of her Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate, while Congress leader and complainant in the case, Pradeep Ahirwar, also appeared before the panel and placed records challenging her claim.The committee heard both sides as part of its inquiry into the validity of Bagri’s caste certificate, on the basis of which she contested and won the reserved Raigaon Assembly seat in Satna district in the 2023 Assembly elections before being inducted into the Mohan Yadav cabinet as minister of state. A first-time BJP MLA, Bagri earlier unsuccessfully contested the 2021 Raigaon bypoll and was associated with the BJP Mahila Morcha before entering electoral politics.According to sources, Bagri recorded her statement before the committee and submitted documentary evidence, including records dating back over a century and documents relating to the inclusion of the Bagri community in the SC category after changes made in 1976.Talking to TOI, Bagri said, “I submitted 110-year-old records before the committee and we have no relations with the Rajput community. Traditionally, everyone knows the caste system in our area and anyone from the locality can tell the truth.

This is a conspiracy against me. I come from a very ordinary SC family. A woman from such a family started by working for the organisation and then became a minister. I have maintained a clean image over the past two-and-a-half years and some people are unable to digest that.

”She also questioned the public announcements made in villages during the inquiry process. “I was fully cooperating with the high-level committee.

I received the notice and appeared before it on time. Public announcements could have been made if I refused to cooperate. Such acts are only aimed at pulling me down and damaging my image,” she said.Bagri further claimed that several leaders from the Bagri community held public office in the past. “Jugal Kishore Bagri was elected MLA five times and Shivdayal Bagri was also an MLA. If there was any issue, complaints would have been made ever since 1976.

It is happening now only because I have become a minister. This is a political conspiracy because people are unable to digest my growing and clean political graph,” she added.Talking to TOI, Ahirwar, who heads the Madhya Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste Department, said he submitted constitutional records from 1950 along with caste census documents of 1961 and 1971, claiming they showed that the Bagri community in the Satna region was not included in the Scheduled Caste list.

He also referred to a 2007 gazette notification, alleging that Bagri Rajput subgroups were not entitled to SC status, and expressed confidence that the scrutiny committee would decide the matter on the basis of the documentary evidence placed before it.The controversy stems from Ahirwar’s challenge to Bagri’s caste certificate before the high court, alleging that she belonged to the Rajput/Thakur community and was therefore ineligible to contest from the SC-reserved Raigaon seat. Following the high court’s directions, the state-level caste scrutiny committee initiated an inquiry, recently inviting documentary evidence from all concerned. The committee will now examine the records submitted by both sides before arriving at its findings.