Sonia blames Centre, Delhi government, 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-citizenship (Amendment) Act 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.
Gandhi said the first thing former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whenever the country faced any crisis, be it Kashmir or any other issue, would do was to call an all-party meeting.
“He, himself, on many occasions chaired those meetings. But, unfortunately, ever since the Modi government has come in, as far as I know, no such meeting has been called. The only one was when the home minister called a meeting and I think he called only the Delhi representatives, not an all-party meeting,” she said.
Later in the day, Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, took out a peace march from the party office to Gandhi Smriti. Congress leaders, including members of Parliament, will also hold a march and give a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday.
CONG IS POLITICISING VIOLENCE: JAVADEKAR
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Sonia’s statement was timed to politicise the violence. The BJP also hit out at the opposition parties for raising questions on why national security advisor Ajit Doval has taken charge of the situation. “At a time like this, instead of helping to calm down the situation, they (Congress) are pinning the blame on the government.” Javadekar called the demand for Shah’s stepping down “farcical” since he had been trying to control the situation from Day One.