In poll-bound Bihar, BJP's culture wing releases posters demanding 'justice for Sushant Singh Rajput'

With Bihar heading for Assembly elections, the culture wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released posters demanding ‘justice’ for Sushant Singh Rajput, inviting criticism from the Opposition. According to reports, the art and culture wing of the BJP has distributed posters, stickers and masks with photos of the actor who was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on 14 June. The posters also carry the message  “Na bhoole hain, na bhoolne denge (neither have we forgotten, nor will we let anyone forget)." As per a report in  The Print, over 30,000 posters and stickers, and 30,000 masks bearing the photo and the message have been printed so far. The Bihar Assembly elections are likely to be held in October-November. The BJP has, however, claimed that the actor’s death is not a political issue but an emotional issue. The culture wing has also said that it has been running online and offline campaigns since his death. Speaking to The Print, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal dubbed Rajput as the “son of Bihar”, while claiming that there was no question of politics. “There is no question of politics over Sushant Singh Rajput. He was the son of Bihar and the truth should come out. His family should get justice. What is wrong in it?” Jaiswal reportedly said. Apart from distributing masks and posters, the art and culture wing had also held group meetings in Patna in the first week of July, the wing’s convenor Varun Kumar Singh told _T_ he Indian Express. “It is just a coincidence that some people noticed the stickers and are attributing political motives to it,” Singh said. Singh also said that they have produced a two-part series on the actor’s life, which will soon be made available on social media. “We have been part of the ‘Justice for Sushant’ campaign since the beginning and had been instrumental in getting top BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ram Kripal Yadav to meet Sushant’s father in July,” he said. According to a report in The Times of India, the BJP has also written a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanding that Rajiv Nagar Chowk in Patna be named after Rajput. In the letter, the film city located in Nalanda’s Rajgir has also been asked to be named after the actor. The RJD slammed the saffron party for politicising the issue. “Kisi ki lash par rajneeti nahi honi chahiye. (Nobody should play politics over someone’s dead body),” the Times of India quotes RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari as saying. Tiwari also claimed that RJD leader Tejasvi Yadav was the first to demand a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the actor’s death. Some political parties in Bihar, including the RJD and the LJP, had reportedly backed the demand for the CBI probe. “We all have unitedly and unequivocally demanded CBI probe into Sushant’s death and now it is being carried out. In such situation, BJP must not have politicised it for narrow political gain. Let Sushant get justice, not a politicisation,” RJD leader Chitaranjan Gagan told the New Indian Express. The Times of India report also quotes an unnamed Congress leader alleging that political parties had raised the demand for a probe by the agency as the actor belongs to the Rajput caste, considered to be influential in the state. Rajput was found hanging in his apartment in Mumbai’s Bandra on 14 June. The actor hails from Purnia in Bihar. Debates over his “outsider status” and nepotism in Bollywood followed soon after. Later, a tussle ensued between the political leaders, police of Maharashtra and Bihar over the investigation into his death. The Bihar Police had registered an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code,  including abetment to suicide, against Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her family and others on the basis of the allegations made by Rajput’s father KK Singh. Following this, the Bihar government had recommended a CBI probe into the case. Singh also alleged financial irregularities. In his complaint, Singh alleged that an amount of Rs 15 crore was siphoned off from Rajput’s bank account in one year to accounts of persons not known or connected to the late actor. Maharashtra had said that it was probing the matter as the actor had died in Mumbai and objected to the registration of an FIR in Patna. The Supreme Court later handed over the case to the CBI. Various angles surrounding the death of the 34-year-old actor are now being probed by three federal agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Chakraborty was summoned by the NCB on Sunday, while her brother Showik has been arrested in connection with the drugs probe linked to Rajput’s death. With inputs from agencies