BJP MP and former minister in Narendra Modi’s government Pratap Chandra Sarangi has again hit the headlines. The Odisha MP has accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of pushing him, a charge the Congress MP denied.

The former Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the BJP-led NDA government came to the limelight in 2019 when he suddenly emerged from oblivion and became a minister.

Was Pratap Chandra Sarangi Involved In Graham Staines Murder Case?

The leader of the saffron party is not unknown to controversies either. He hogged the headlines in 1999 when he was accused of being involved in the infamous Graham Staines murder case.

Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two children, Philip and Timothy, were burnt to death after the station wagon in which they were sleeping, was set on fire. It was alleged that a group of Bajrang Dal workers, led by Pratap Sarangi, the chief of the Hindutva outfit at that time, set the station wagon in the village of Manoharpur-Keonjhar on fire.

Sarangi alleged that the charges were not investigated in an unbiased and proper manner.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi Convicted

Dara Singh and 11 other Bajrang Dal workers were convicted of the triple murder in 2003. Singh was awarded a death sentence and 11 other people, including Sarangi, were given life terms.

However, the Odisha High Court commuted the death sentence of Dara Singh and freed 11 others including Pratap Chandra Sarangi two years later for lack of evidence.

A week after the incident, a judicial commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Justice D. P. Wadhwa, was set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

What Did Wadhwa Commission Say?

The Wadhwa Commission, set up to probe the incident found no evidence of any one single group’s involvement in the attack.

According to the NGO group Human Rights Watch, the commission said that the government was not serious in investigating the matter and it did not provide the probe panel with adequate resources for the inquiry.

The Wadhwa Commission also criticised the Intelligence Bureau and the intelligence wing of the Orissa police for lack of information on not mounting tensions in the area prior to the incident.157

What Did National Commission For Minorities Find?

The National Commission for Minorities found in its official investigation that murder accused cheered “Bajrang Dal Zindabad” before the attack.

According to the BBC, Orissa-based journalist Sandeep Sahu said that Sarangi gave him and others interviews, in which he talked passionately against what he called the “evil designs” of Christian missionaries who are “bent on converting the whole of India”.

Why Was Sarangi Arrested?

The Odisha Police arrested Pratap Sarangi on charges of rioting, arson, assault, and damaging government property in 2002 after Hindu right-wing groups, including the Bajrang Dal, attacked the Orissa State Assembly.

However, the Balasore politician was not new to the party or electoral politics when he took the oath as a minister.

Sarangi won Odisha Assembly Elections in 2004 and 2009 from the Nilagiri constituency in the Balasore district.

Sarangi Revolutionises Primary Education

However, the BJP leader was also known for his austere lifestyle and frugal way of living after he became an MLA and also later became a union minister.

Pratap Sarangi Works For RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal

If media reports are to be believed, Sarangi joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at an early age and rose soon to the district level. He also worked simultaneously for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.

On the other hand, Sarangi set up schools for the poor called Samar Kara Kendra, under the Gana Shikhsa Mandir Yojana in tribal villages in Balasore and Mayurbhanj District.

The tribal leader revolutionalised primary education in rural areas by adopting the innovative concept of community-funded Ekal Vidyalaya or single-teacher schools.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi wanted to become a monk of the Ramakrishna Math in his early childhood. He visited its headquarters in Belur Math near Kolkata many times. However, after the monks of the Math discovered that Sarangi’s widowed mother was alive, they asked him to go back and serve her instead. Later, he became involved in various social activities.