Bhopal: A vermillion smeared coconut has become the unlikely trigger for a political row in Madhya Pradesh between the BJP and the Congress.
A video showing Congress campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia flinging the said coconut out of his SUV during his Panna trip had gone viral.
While why he did so is not yet clear, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has come up with the theory of black magic.
Speaking to reporters, he claimed that the coconut was presented to Scindia by some Congress workers.
“However, he was told that it was smeared with vermilion so he should throw it away. He threw it or not, I don’t know, but it shows Congress believes in tona totka (black magic),” the CM said.
The BJP has also slammed the Congress leader for showing “disrespect” to Hindu culture by throwing the coconut since it was a religious offering.
Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi accepted that the theory of superstition is not completely wrong. But he made it clear that Scindia was not the one who believes in superstition.
"He was pressured by party workers to throw the coconut. He argued with them not to be superstitious in the age of science, but they were adamant not to keep the coconut in the car, so he threw it away," he said.
A Congress activist, on the other hand, claimed Scindia’s car was moving towards Panna when four youths standing on the roadside gave the said coconut to him and it stained the Congress leader’s clothes.
He claimed that several garlands and coconuts were offered to Scindia, but he threw only this particular one. He said he was observing all this from another car.
Meanwhile, a letter has surfaced on social media in which a youth who identified himself as Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Mahakal, claimed that the coconut was sent to Scindia by the deity himself.
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