Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar should be sacked for his government’s “complete failure” in controlling the violence following Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction in a rape case.
There has been a “transcended failure of governance”, the Congress leader said, adding, the Haryana government’s inability to maintain law and order in a situation of predictable chaos was to be blamed.
“The lack of management of predictable crowd violence, where anyone could see people gathering with weapons in advance of the verdict is the major reason behind what has happened,” Tharoor said.
“Ultimately it is the chief minister and his cabinet who are responsible for the law and order situation in the state. It is a complete failure of the government and the CM should be sacked for it,” he added.
“Why wasn’t any action taken first under Section 144? Why, for example, were all gatherings not prohibited? Why was there no preventive deployment of armed police on the streets? All of these are such obvious questions to be asked.
“To my mind this has been a transcended failure of governance.”
The CPI-M too demanded that Haryana Chief Minister Khattar be “immediately sacked” in view of the large-scale.
The party also demanded dissolution of the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
“Despite having knowledge and widespread apprehension of trouble and violence, the BJP government and the chief minister of Haryana did not take adequate preventive measures. This serious dereliction of duty by the state government created a situation of complete breakdown of law and order,” the CPI-M politburo said in a statement.
Citing media reports that the chief minister and BJP legislators had visited Singh “to seek his blessings”, the CPI-M said this reflected sympathetic manner in which the saffron party sought to deal with the situation.
“This is the third occasion when the BJP-led state government has failed to protect the lives of innocent people and damage of public and private properties.
“Clearly the state government in Haryana has lost its authority to continue. The state government and the chief minister cannot remain in office and the chief minister must be immediately sacked,” the party demanded.
BSP president Mayawati also voiced a similar complaint, saying such “shameful surrender” to votebank politics needed to be condemned.
In a statement, she expressed deep anguish over the loss of lives. “The Khattar government should be immediately dismissed for its absolute laxity and involvement leading to large-scale violence after the conviction of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief on rape charges,” Mayawati said.
“This kind of shameful surrender for politics of vote needed to be condemned by all,” she said.
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