BJP accuses Gehlot of discrimination over compensation in drowning incidents

Jaipur: BJP leaders on Monday questioned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for announcing compensation to the kin of two Muslim victims of drowning and not for a Hindu family that lost five children in a similar incident, and alleged it reflected his "vote-bank politics".

They targeted Gehlot over his two tweets on the incidents in Jodhpur's Phalodi and in the Ramsinghpur area of Sriganganagar on Sunday.

In a tweet on the Jodhpur incident in which two persons drowned in a pond, Gehlot mentioned the names of the victims - Rahmatullah and Akram - and said that an amount of Rs 5 lakh will be given to the families of each of the victims under the Chiranjeevi accident health insurance scheme.

Earlier, he tweeted to condole the death of five children who drowned in a farm pond in Sriganganagar's Ramsinghpur.

He expressed condolence but neither mentioned their names nor any financial assistance to their families, the BJP leaders said as they reminded Gehlot that "he was not the chief minister of one particular religion, but the entire state".

There are certain criteria for giving assistance during a natural calamity but the state government has started doing discrimination in this also, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said.

I saw the chief minister's two tweets. In the Phalodi incident, he announced Rs 5 lakh on the death of Rahmatullah and one more. On the Ramsinghpur incident, he expressed condolences but did not announce a single penny as assistance.

"This raises questions. Why does he have to do vote-bank politics in every matter? he said.

He is the chief minister of the entire state, not of one particular religion. Assistance in Phalodi matter is good, but those who were killed in the Ramsinghpur incident are also poor and the government should think about them also, he said.

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is the Jodhpur MP, shared Gehlot's tweets and said the chief minister gave consolation in one incident and compensation along with condolences in the other incident.

This is what the Congress thinks of secularism, which is being followed in letter and spirit in Rajasthan, he said on Twitter.

The BJP has been accusing the Congress government in Rajasthan of appeasing the Muslim community and has stepped up attack after the incidents of communal violence in parts of the state in recent months.