Who’s behind attacks on north Indians in Gujarat?

New Delhi: The attacks on the north Indians in some parts of Gujarat last month acquired a new dimension with senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil sending a legal notice of criminal and civil defamation to Chief Minister Vijaybhai Rupani for holding him responsible.

In a 3-page notice to Rupani for blaming him in an interview in Uttar Pradesh, Gohil said he was not in Gujarat even for a day during the incidents as he was either in Bihar or Delhi during the period. Asserting that it is Rupani’s duty as the CM to maintain law and order in the state, the notice says: “Instead of making a politically motivated statement, you should have taken action against me by filing FIR against me and arresting me.”

The BJP leaders have been already blaming a speech of Gujarat’s Congress MLA Alpesh Thakur for triggering violence against the people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh working in Gujarat. In retaliation to the CM’s charge on him to tarnish his image and cause great political and social damage to him, Gohil, who is also a national spokesman of the Congress, hit back that there are many evidences of the BJP MLAs, including Rajendra Chavda of Himmatnagar and Gajendra Sinh of Prantij instigating attacks on the outsiders in Gujarat.

Gohil also referred to a Youtube post in which Chavda claimed to have been assured by the CM that action would be taken against the factories employing more than 20% outsiders and photographs on the website of Gajendra Sinh on an attack by his people on the Madhya Pradesh people working in a chocolate plant of Amul.

Wondering why the chief minister did not take action against these MLAs of his own party, Gohil put him on notice to make a statement within two weeks that he (Gohil) had no role in attacks on outsiders in Gujarat or face criminal case and a civil suit for damages.