Sonia blames Centre, Delhi govt; asks Shah to step down
NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday blamed both the Centre and the Delhi government for the communal violence in Delhi, and demanded the immediate resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah for his “colossal failure” in restoring normalcy.
“The violence was part of a systematic design; it was seen during the Delhi assembly elections too. The BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leaders had vitiated the atmosphere of Delhi through their speeches during the elections,” said Gandhi at a rare news conference she addressed after chairing a meeting of the congress working committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior leaders AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia were among those who attended the meeting. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was absent as he is currently abroad.
Gandhi referred to BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s three-day ultimatum to police on Sunday to remove a group of anti-CAA protesters staging a sit-in on a road in Jafrabad. She did not name Mishra, who has been under fire for the remarks that have been blamed for spiralling tensions.
Gandhi posed five questions to the Centre. “Where was the Home Minister since Sunday and what was he doing? Where was the chief minister of Delhi and what was he doing? What information was shared by intelligence officials after the assembly polls and what action was taken on that? Tell us about the number of policemen deployed in troubled areas when it was clear that the situation was deteriorating, and finally, when the situation went out of hand, why was not the paramilitary force deployed?”
She held Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his government responsible for not “activating the administration to reach out to the people to maintain peace and harmony”.
Gandhi termed “shocking” the silence of the leadership in the central and the Delhi governments. “Though I have seen comments on social media, formally nobody has come out with a positive message,” she said.