Mumbai: Coronavirus was relegated to the backseat and the communal virus appeared to rear its ugly head in the state, following the lynching of three men, two sadhus and a driver, travelling by car from Mumbai to Surat by the residents of Gadchinchle village in Palghar district last week.
It has become the latest hot-button issue in the state's politics, with the opposing Bharatiya Janata Party crying itself hoarse in social media, terming the incident a failure of law and order in the state and demanding the resignation of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Praveen Darekar of the BJP, leader of the opposition in the legislative council, has demanded a CBI inquiry into the case and said Deshmukh must step down as home minister. The brutal killing of two sadhus and their driver in the presence of police is shocking and worrying. As the police chose to remain mute spectators during this incident, it shows they were under pressure.
To ensure an independent inquiry, this case should be handed over to the CBI, said Darekar in a press statement. The incident has exposed the deplorable law and order situation in the state. Therefore, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh should also immediately resign, he demanded.
However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray rebutted the charges, saying there was no communal angle to the incident. He warned his critics (without naming the BJP) not to politicise the issue.
He announced that over 100 accused had been nabbed and five key people involved in the incident had been arrested. Nine minors had been sent to remand homes and a hunt was on for the other accused. He said the government would not spare anyone.
Further, in his web address, he reminded the BJP that lynching’s had also taken place in the state in the last five years. '‘Do not try to create misunderstandings. I spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
He knows there is no communal angle here. I told him we must search for all those fanning passions on social media. Those trying to inflame passions, must desist from doing so.
There is no Hindu-Muslim angle or communalism in this attack,’’ he said. The CM explained how Gadchinchle is in a remote area and the incident could have been averted had the travellers been detained at the border for the night, and inquiries made with the Maharashtra government the following morning. ‘
’This happened 110 km away from Palghar, on the border of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a UT. The two sadhus were travelling to Gujarat through a remote area, as there were curbs on the main roads. They were stopped at the border and asked to turn back.
On their way back, they were stopped because of the rumours in this remote area that there were thieves afoot, and unfortunately, they were killed,’’ he noted. The Congress, which is part of the ruling MVA, jumped into the fray, accusing BJP of ochre optics, saying it was trying to politicise the unfortunate incident by giving it a religious colour.
Further, it effectively cornered BJP by pointing out the group gram panchayat where the incident occurred was BJP-led and had been a stronghold of the party for the last 10 years. BJP leader Darekar's attempt to visit Palghar to meet the collector was thwarted, as currently, there is a ban on intra-state travel.
So, he sent a letter to the collector through Pascal Dhanare, a former legislator from Dahanu, which includes Gadchinchle village. “The police should have tried to control the mob. Their inaction seems to have been deliberate, indicating they are under pressure,” he wrote, in his letter to the collector.
'Bid to defame govt' Meanwhile, the Congress slammed the BJP, alleging that the calls made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah & UP CM Yogi Adityanath to CM Uddhav Thackeray were attempts to defame the MVA government in Maharashtra.
“The lynching of three people in Palghar district by a group of people is strongly condemnable, but the Bharatiya Janata Party should be ashamed of itself, trying to politicise this unfortunate incident by giving it a religious colour,” criticised the state Congress committee general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant.
Sawant said, it was shocking that those who had failed to handle numerous such incidents, both, in the state and in the country, while in power for five years, were playing politics on the same issue today. “Last year, two lynching incidents occurred in Palghar district. A similar incident took place in Dhule and also in Pune.
Why did the then Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis not resign? The village panchayat of Divshi-Gadchinchle, where the unfortunate incident took place, has been the BJP's stronghold for the last 10 years.
At present, Chitra Chaudhary from the BJP is sarpanch. The majority of those arrested are from the BJP,” he pointed out. “Amit Shah, however, did not call the Gujarat CM after the incident in Surat, nor did he call the CM of any BJP ruled states where mob lynching incidents have occurred," Sawant said.
He held that the BJP leaders were trying to defame the Maharashtra government. "It is surprising the BJP can stoop to such a low level even in this period of crisis brought on by the coronavirus,” the Congress said.
