DISMISS J&K DEPUTY CM; PM SPEAK UP: CONG

NEWDELHI:THE Congress on Tuesday demanded the dismissal of Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta for calling the Kathua rape and murder case a minor incident and said his remark displayed the mindset of the BJP.

Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the issue and urged him to ensure that Gupta was sacked. “It is an absolute blasphemous statement that has come from the deputy CM of J&K on the Kathua rape. Such casualness is the very reason, is the very mindset why young children and women are not safe in this country and if it comes from a person who is holding an important position in the government and administration, it is even more blasphemous and we condemn his statement,” she said.

The Congress expected the PM, his party and allied political outfits to take the matter up seriously, she said.“he (Gupta) should step down or he should be sacked from his position for such an insensitive statement on a case which has rocked the nation,” she told reporters.

Dev, who is also the Mahila Congress chief, said she was shocked to see that leaders who had supported the alleged accused in the Kathua case had been placed in the state ministry in a reshuffle on Monday. “That shows a casual, insensitive and negligent attitude of the BJP and the parties who have allied with the BJP,” she said.

After being sworn in as the deputy CM on Monday, Gupta had said the Kathua case was a “minor incident”.