IIT-BHU case: Congress workers threaten to gherao PM Modi's Varanasi constituency office

Following the arrests of three individuals on 31 December in the alleged gang-rape of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) student on the Benares Hindu University (BHU) campus in Varanasi on 1 November 2023, Opposition parties including the Congress targeted Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his government over the law and order situation in the state and alleged that those arrested in the case have links with the ruling BJP.

State Congress chief Ajay Rai has threatened to gherao Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency office in Varanasi on Tuesday, 2 January to protest the involvement of local BJP activists in the alleged gang-rape of the IIT-BHU student.

"Women and children are being raped in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To tell the general public how incidents like rape are being carried out under their patronage, our Banaras district and city unit will gherao the prime minister's Varanasi office on Tuesday," Rai told PTI on Monday.

He claimed that Kunal Pandey, the convenor of the BJP's IT cell in Varanasi, its working committee member Abhishek Chauhan, and co-convenor Saksham Patel were sent to work for party in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections so that they could not be arrested.

Rai alleged, "The BJP is a party of rapists, with leaders like Kuldeep Sengar and Swami Chinmayanand. The BJP is working to save rapists."

Following the incident on 1 November, hundreds of BHU students held a protest on the campus, and demanded that the entry of outsiders be banned.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a post on X that those arrested for gang-raping the woman student are part of a new crop of BJP workers thriving under the patronage of senior leaders.

However, the BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) issued a statement from its state media coordinator Abhinav Mishra, demanding that the police file a charge sheet in the case at the earliest and also take action against those who protected the accused for two months. The ABVP also called on the BHU administration to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of everyone on campus.