On August 21, CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and his colleagues were attacked while visiting a village in Rajasthan under the ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign. The next day, local BJP MLA Kailash Verma gave his version of the incident to the media, placing the entire blame on CJP.

Verma claimed that “around 100 to 150 CJP workers arrived in 30-40 vehicles and descended on the village, terrorising its residents.” He went so far as to allege that CJP workers themselves pelted stones at their own vehicles and smashed the windows merely to garner sympathy.

However, publicly available video evidence directly contradicts this claim. It clearly shows a man smashing the windows of two vehicles belonging to CJP workers. The same man is also seen beating another person with a stick. Crucially, he later told a camera that he was with the BJP. He was also standing alongside Kailash Verma when the BJP MLA addressed the media.

What Happened in Rajasthan?

CJP workers, led by Ashutosh Ranka, had travelled to Rampura-Kanwarpura village in Rajasthan’s Jaipur district to inspect a government school. They said the school had been operating for several years from a buffalo shed and was in a deplorable condition.

Soon after the team entered the village, however, some people allegedly surrounded the CJP workers. They were allegedly pushed and assaulted, stones were thrown at them, and the windows of their vehicles were smashed. Ranka posted videos of the incident on X.

According to media reports, some people had blocked the village’s main road with tractor-trolleys after learning that the CJP team was coming and began checking vehicles passing through. Tensions escalated after the team entered the village.

Ranka said an angry mob broke the hands of several CJP workers, severely damaged their vehicles and pelted stones at women members of the team. He described the incident as a pre-planned conspiracy and accused the police administration of remaining silent spectators.

BJP MLA Kailash Verma, however, presented a diametrically opposite version. He claimed that a large number of CJP workers had attacked the villagers, but offered no evidence to substantiate the allegation.

Significantly, as Verma addressed the media, the man clearly seen in the videos attacking CJP vehicles and smashing their windows was standing right beside him.

The Man Smashing CJP Vehicles

The man is seen attacking at least two vehicles from behind and smashing their windows. The video below corroborates this.

He is seen using his right elbow to break a vehicle’s window.

The same individual is also seen at one point in the video wielding a wooden stick and attacking a man.

Screengrab from video posted by Ashutosh Ranka

Speaking to the camera of News Nation, the man publicly said, “This is a BJP government, and we will remain with the BJP.”

The available evidence therefore shows that CJP workers did not break the windows of their own vehicles, contrary to Kailash Verma’s claim. His assertion that 100 to 150 CJP workers arrived in 30-40 vehicles and descended on the village is also unsupported by the available evidence. None of the videos available online shows either that many vehicles or that many CJP workers.

In a statement to the media, Ashutosh Ranka said that all the video evidence available to him at the time of the incident had been placed in the public domain. If the other side had video evidence, he said, it should also place it before the public. Ranka added that if CJP workers were indeed being accused of attacking villagers, evidence to support the allegation should be produced.

Political Claims versus Available Evidence

In a post on X, Arvind Kejriwal alleged that BJP goons had brutally attacked CJP workers, beaten them mercilessly, torn their clothes and damaged their vehicles. He asked whether they were being targeted simply because they were raising their voice for better education for children.

BJP leader Amit Malviya, meanwhile, dismissed the claims made by CJP and Kejriwal as completely false. He argued that the protesters were local villagers who had clearly stated that they had no connection with the BJP.

However, Malviya shared a video of a man showing an injury to his right hand and claiming that it had been caused by an attack by CJP workers. That man is the same person seen using his right elbow to smash the windows of CJP vehicles.

On August 21, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke warned on X that if work to repair the school did not begin within 48 hours and the BJP goons responsible for the attack were not arrested, he would travel to Jaipur himself. BJP leader Harish Khurana responded by questioning how Dipke knew the attackers were BJP workers. “Was it written on their faces?” he asked, adding that they could have been Congress workers as well.

However, a close examination of videos of the incident shared by Ashutosh Ranka on social media led to the identification of one prominent individual in the attacking crowd as Lalchand Sharma.

Photos on Lalchand Sharma’s Facebook page show him wearing a BJP scarf. His profile also contained several old BJP graphics and posts, in which he described himself as a leader from the Bagru East Mandal, Jaipur. However, no posts beyond 2024 are currently visible on his page.