Don’t target anybody without proof : Lalu
Don’t target anybody without proof : Lalu
IST,TNN
NEW DELHI: Congress was careful in its articulation, being questioned about communal violence in Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh and Assam, with Amar Singh taking a dig at the Maharashtra government in the context of the clashes at Dhule.
MIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi contested CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s claim that the Adilabad incident, in which six of a family were burned alive, could be an “accident”.
In the midst of the heated rhetoric, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated that the Centre would tread a cautious path over use of Article 356 and banning organisations like Bajrang Dal. Unless there is a sudden spurt of violence linked to saffron groups, the Centre does not look keen on a confrontation even though Singh in his closing remarks warned his government “would not be found wanting in fulfilment of its constitutional obligations” in dealing with communal and ethnic strife.
His allies were more direct. “Bajrang Dal and VHP used to be the escorting party of L K Advani during his Rath Yatra days,” Lalu told the media, while on SIMI he said, “All in this organisation cannot be branded as bad. Without proof, nobody should be targeted as terrorists.” Paswan said that he had not only sought a ban on Bajrang Dal and VHP but also on schools run by RSS, as he said “such institutions were instilling feelings of communal divide among the people, which needed to be checked.” Amar Singh said there is no sense of security among the minorities in UP, Delhi, Maharashtra and Azamgarh. Clarifying his position on the Batla House encounter, Singh said, “I am not saying Batla House encounter and martyrdom of the police officer was fake but the fact remains that minorities are feeling insecure, a 14-year-old was also killed. Was he terrorist?”
At the NIC meeting, activists like Swami Agnivesh, Shabnam Hashmi, John Dayal, Naved Ahmed and MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi called for a ban on Bajrang Dal. Though Lalu and Paswan circulated statements calling for a ban, at the meeting itself none of the Congress chief ministers raised the issue. The NIC was essentially a positioning exercise where both sides marked out their positions.
On the saffron side, BJP chief ministers Narendra Modi, B S Yeddyurappa and B C Khanduri focussed on terrorism and demanded a Pota-like law. Yeddyurappa said the Centre had been selective in sending teams and advisories to Karnataka. The BJP virtually set out its campaign focus for the coming assembly and perhaps even next year’s general elections with Modi saying that a specific reference to terrorism had been excluded from the NIC agenda as UPA could not look beyond “vote bank” politics. With Leader of Opposition L K Advani skipping the meet, Modi’s written speech — he did not address the meeting — argued that “a clear line must be drawn between those who support and those who do not support our fight against terrorism.”
The PM defended the government’s position against special laws by pointing out that “we should not be provoked to suspend or subvert a democratic process in search for solutions. A democracy has special onus to ensure protection of civil liberties”.
He also said that “wrong methods” must not be adopted an impression that “any community, or sections amongst them, are being targetted, or that some profiling is being done should be avoided”.
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Tags: Adilabad, Amar Singh, Article 356, Azamgarh, Batla, Closing Remarks, Communal Violence, Constitutional Obligations, Dayal, Delhi Congress, Ethnic Strife, L K Advani, Maharashtra Government, Manmohan, Manmohan Singh, Naved, Prime Minister Manmohan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sudden Spurt, Target