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‘Incidents part of a sinister design’

JAIPUR: The Congress and the Left parties have termed the recent communal incidents in Rajasthan as part of a “sinister design” to create terror among the minorities and polarise Hindu votes prior to State elections scheduled later in the year.

They have also alleged a link between the Rajasthan Religious Freedom Bill, 2008, passed by the State Assembly last week and the outbreak of hostilities between the communities on the day of Holi, Barawafat and Good Friday which all happened to fall on the same day this year.

“There is a definite link between the passage of the Bill and the recent communal clashes in Chittaurgarh, Tonk, Dausa and Pali taking place simultaneously. It is an effort on the part of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar organisations to consolidate their vote bank,” Pradesh Congress Committee president C. P. Joshi said.

“It is a two-pronged strategy to terrorise the Muslims and other minority groups and to consolidate the majority votes,” he noted.

Prof. Joshi said there were serious administrative lapses in handling the communal violence in Chittaurgarh and even Health Minister Narpat Singh Rajvi had expressed dismay over the role of the administration. In Chittaurgarh, where several shops and establishments were set ablaze by rioting mobs, the force deployment was late and it was intentional. “It is not surprising that the Government has not taken action against any police functionary so far,” he observed.

“In an election year it is all the more important for the Government to maintain communal harmony but Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has compromised with the fundamentalists,” Prof. Joshi charged. The State Secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in a statement charged the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad with picking up trivial issues to divide the communities.

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