BHOPAL: The bulldozing of “illegal” properties of alleged rioters in the communal violence-hit Khargone and Sendhwa towns of Madhya Pradesh is turning into a major political storm. Tweeting on the issue, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said “instead of bulldozing major public problems like inflation and unemployment, the BJP’s bulldozer is ridden by hate and fear”.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged the MP government was “terrorising” a particular community. “Properties of a particular community are being bulldozed as part of a plan to terrorise them and make them feel that they are second class citizens in their own country. Which IPC section provides for bulldozing the property of people accused in rioting cases, even before they are held guilty by the court? Are the BJP government in MP and its home minister acting as the court and jury?” said the Hyderabad MP.
Former MP chief minister Digvijaya Singh also raised the issue of the minority community being “targeted by the bulldozer” in Khargone and Sendhwa. “Does the country’s Constitution have any provision for the present bulldozer culture? But even then, if you’ve to run the bulldozer, then that action shouldn’t discriminate on the basis of religion,” he tweeted.
Shielding the criticism, MP Home minister Narottam Mishra said, “There were no tweets when Singh’s and Asaduddin Owaisi’s shanti doots (messengers of peace) were pelting stones on Ram Navami processions. Tweets are being done only when action is being taken against stone-throwers. The bulldozing action will continue,” he said.
Defending the bulldozing action, he said: “There is no question of differentiating between the guilty when the rioters are clearly seen throwing stones in video footage. The real issue is who began the violence and not about those who responded in self-defence. The state government is not bothered about the accusations of it targeting anyone.”