Gehlot govt under attack over Bharatpur violence

Jaipur: Opposition parties, Muslim organisations and rights bodies have blamed the Rajasthan government for the Gopalgarh violence in Bharatpur district which left nine members of the minority community dead and some others several injured.

Some of the ruling party leaders have also blamed the district administration and police for the incident and claimed that the clashes took place due to “administrative lapse”.

Leaders of various political parties and fact-finding teams of rights bodies and others have been visiting the town, the epicentre of the bloody clashes on 14 September following a dispute over a piece of land.

Whereas the government’s stand is that it was a clash between Mev Muslim and Gujjar community people, Opposition parties, rights and Muslims organisations are claiming that it was a one-sided action by police in collusion with Gujjar people in which members of the minority were targeted.

“Ashok Gehlot is inactive chief minister and we will meet Congress leadership in New Delhi with our demand to sack him as well as the home minister Shanti Dhariwal.

“Only Muslims were targeted in police firing because all those who were lost their lives are Muslims and most of those injured are also Muslims. It was clearly one sided action by police,” Engineer Salim, a representative of Rajathan Muslim Forum (a forum of Muslim organisations in Rajasthan) told reporters here.

“The Bharatpur violence has proved that the government is incapable of handling such issues,” he said.

Rights organisation Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties also carried out a study and alleged that there was collusion among police and Gujjars, local activists of RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP.

“If the police was, as was claimed, acting neutral and firing on both sides to control the mob then why only Muslims were killed and injured,” Kavita Srivastava, PUCL secretary, questioned.

PCC chief Chandrabhan who visited the areas along with an AICC team on Monday, admitted that administrative failure was the cause of the incident.

He said that the incident could have been controlled if the district administration had remained vigilant and active.

A team of BJP MPs led by spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain visited the area yesterday and charged the state government with failing to save the lives of minorities.

CPI-M also sent its fact-finding team and blamed the district administration and police for the clashes.

Meanwhile, state Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal said the government has already ordered a CBI probe besides a judicial inquiry.

“What were the reasons behind the incident and who were responsible will be clear after inquiry reports,” Dhariwal told reporters today after an informal cabinet meeting here.

On the other hand, postmortem of all the deceased was conducted today and the district administration is waiting for their relatives.

“One body has already been handed over to family members on Monday while rest of the bodies (six in Bharatpur, two in Jaipur) have been put in deep freezer and we are waiting for their relatives,” Bharatpur SP Vikas Kumar said.

People of the Mev community are not ready to accept the bodies as they were demanding stern action against the then SP and Collector, who were removed from Bharatpur and put under Awaiting Posting Orders in the wake of the violence.

Curfew was still imposed in the area from 5 pm to 10 am.

PTI