Shiv Sena slams Amit Shah over Delhi violence
The Shiv Sena slammed Union home minister Amit Shah over the violence that claimed the lives of at least 38 people in northeast Delhi in party mouthpiece Saamana on Friday and said that “hyper-nationalism and religious blindness is taking the country behind by 300 years”.
“The capital is being is suffocated by violence. At such a time home minister Amit Shah is seen nowhere. This is worrying... Questions are being asked on where Amit Shah was when Delhi was burning? Where are you home minister,” the editorial stated.
Taking a jibe at Shah, the editorial said Shah was campaigning during the Delhi Assembly polls but was missing when violence had struck. “It is said that the country has a strong home minister but it was surprising that he was not seen [during the violence]. Being the home minister, Shah was distributing pamphlets on Delhi elections and took out enough time for campaigning. But when the entire Delhi was engulfed in the fire of violence, he was nowhere to be seen,” it said.
In a dig at the national ruling party, the Sena said that had the riots taken place during the Congress government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have immediately sought the resignation of the home minister. It added that the Opposition is weak, but even the Congress’s interim president Sonia Gandhi sought Shah’s resignation. The editorial also mocked the other BJP leaders and said that when violence erupted in Delhi, “half of the cabinet was in Ahmedabad to greet ‘Namaste’ to US President Donald Trump. “Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi appealed for peace after three days [after the violence broke out]. NSA [National Security Advisor] Ajit Doval was seen interacting with people on the fourth day. But the question is even at that time, why was our home minister not seen,” it questioned.
The editorial attacked the Centre over the transfer of Delhi high court judge S Murlidhar, who was hearing cases against BJP leaders accused for triggering the violence. “Courts are now being punished for speaking the truth. The government punished him [justice Murlidhar] after he ordered FIRs [first information reports] against Union minister [of state for finance] Anurag Thakur, MP [Member of Parliament] Parvesh Verma and [BJP leader] Kapil Mishra. “Even the courts are being punished for speaking the truth. What is wrong in what justice Murlidhar said?” the Sena asked.
