JHARSUGUDA: The BJP on Wednesday slammed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his silence on violence in Sambalpur even after a week and not taking any visible initiative to bring normalcy to the city, considered the nerve centre of western Odisha.
Claiming the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in 14 districts including the riot-hit Sambalpur in protest against the anti-Hindu attitude of the BJD government received tremendous public response, state BJP president Manmohan Samal told media persons it is a warning to the appeasement policy of the state government.
“The chief minister had time to visit abroad but he has no time to visit the violence-hit Sambalpur or review the situation even after a week. It shows there is any rule of law in the state,” he said. Accusing the district administration of acting in a partisan manner by arresting some innocent people from the Hindu community while allowing main mischief-mongers and the masterminds behind the organised attack to go scot-free, Samal said the FIR filed by the inspector in charge of Bareipali police station is self explanatory.
As per the FIR, around 200 persons of the Muslim community armed with swords, iron rods and lathis attacked the motor cycle rally on April 12 near Motijharn with an intention to kill. The police also admitted the communal riot was a well planned conspiracy by the the community.
Questioning the role of the district administration, Samal said if the police was aware of the conspiracy and why the conspirators were not taken into preventive custody. It is now clearly evident the conspirators are under protection of the ruling BJD for political gains.BJP MP from Bargarh Suresh Pujari, a resident of Sambalpur, said such incident has never been reported in the past.
This is the result of large-scale infiltration of Bangaladeshis who have settled on government land unauthorisedly. He said the administration is aware of the anti-national activities of Bangladeshi settlers who have constructed huge buildings on government land and amassed illegal weapons in houses. “I dare the government to demolish the unauthorised constructions in 24 hours and flush out the weapons and firearms from them if it wants to restore peace in Sambalpur,” Pujari said.
Sundargarh MP Jual Oram, Kalahandi MP Basanta Panda, former party president Samir Mohanty and party spokesperson Biranchi Tripathy were present at the media conference.