Saharanpur riots: Panel report blames the BJP
18 Aug 2014 5:39 AM IST
The probe panel headed by UP minister Shivpal Yadav was constituted by SP state president and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Saharanpur Nagar is among 11 assembly constituencies where bypolls will be held on 13 September, barely one-and-half-month after the communal violence on 26 July.
Sources said the report has accused BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal of making provocative speeches. The report also blames the district administration and the police for not acting in time to prevent the clashes.
Leaders from various political parties started a blame game soon after this final report was submitted to Akhilesh Yadav. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said, ‘It is a report by their own political party. I have nothing to say as I have not even seen the report.’ The BJP dismissed the panel’s findings saying it was a report of the ruling SP and not the government’s. ‘It’s an irony that the perpetrators of the Saharanpur riots are trying to be the judge.
We reject the report,’ said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. Another BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak also questioned the panel’s findings saying how it could blame both the administration and an individual (the BJP MP) at the same time. ‘When there is an administrative failure, how is the BJP responsible for the clashes?’ he asked.
Pathak dismissed the report, saying the SP was indulging in a blame-game to take political mileage. ‘It is report of the party and not the government. What do you expect from SP which had been blaming the BJP time and again to conceal its own government’s failure,’ he alleged. SP national general secretary Naresh Aggarwal defended the probe report. ‘The report makes it clear that the riots took place due to the callous behaviour of the officers on duty. I appeal to the chief minister to take strict action against them,’ he said.
Mayawati, chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party, blamed both the SP government and the BJP for the clashes. ‘We do not agree with the probe committee report. Peace and harmony were destroyed after the SP came to power. But after the BJP came to power at the Centre, it has become worse,’ she said adding, ‘The BJP and SP are hand-in-glove. The report has not put forth the actual facts. It has little meaning. We do not accept the report.’
Muslims and Sikhs engaged in violent clashes in the Kutubsher area of Saharanpur on 26 July for several hours over a land dispute. The violence had claimed three lives and left more than 20 injured. Curfew was clamped in the township following the violence and the subsequent Eid celebrations were also muted.
Sources said the report has accused BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal of making provocative speeches. The report also blames the district administration and the police for not acting in time to prevent the clashes.
Leaders from various political parties started a blame game soon after this final report was submitted to Akhilesh Yadav. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said, ‘It is a report by their own political party. I have nothing to say as I have not even seen the report.’ The BJP dismissed the panel’s findings saying it was a report of the ruling SP and not the government’s. ‘It’s an irony that the perpetrators of the Saharanpur riots are trying to be the judge.
We reject the report,’ said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. Another BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak also questioned the panel’s findings saying how it could blame both the administration and an individual (the BJP MP) at the same time. ‘When there is an administrative failure, how is the BJP responsible for the clashes?’ he asked.
Pathak dismissed the report, saying the SP was indulging in a blame-game to take political mileage. ‘It is report of the party and not the government. What do you expect from SP which had been blaming the BJP time and again to conceal its own government’s failure,’ he alleged. SP national general secretary Naresh Aggarwal defended the probe report. ‘The report makes it clear that the riots took place due to the callous behaviour of the officers on duty. I appeal to the chief minister to take strict action against them,’ he said.
Mayawati, chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party, blamed both the SP government and the BJP for the clashes. ‘We do not agree with the probe committee report. Peace and harmony were destroyed after the SP came to power. But after the BJP came to power at the Centre, it has become worse,’ she said adding, ‘The BJP and SP are hand-in-glove. The report has not put forth the actual facts. It has little meaning. We do not accept the report.’
Muslims and Sikhs engaged in violent clashes in the Kutubsher area of Saharanpur on 26 July for several hours over a land dispute. The violence had claimed three lives and left more than 20 injured. Curfew was clamped in the township following the violence and the subsequent Eid celebrations were also muted.
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