The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet on Wednesday to discuss the violence in New Delhi , even as the party appealed for calm on Tuesday and urged the Centre and the Delhi government to rise above party politics.
“This is Gandhi’s, Nehru’s and Patel’s India, can any Indian accept this mindless violence ? The Congress appeals to the people of Delhi to maintain communal harmony and thwart all attempts of the forces dividing the country on the basis of religion,” chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, talking to reporters.
“Our appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is: Can you rise to the occasion, leave aside your partisanship and views and become leaders not just of your parties but of society to restore harmony, peace and non-violence,” he said. “Do not fail this country just because you belong to different political parties.”
“There is no place for violence in Gandhiji’s India... Today, there is a need to establish peace on the ground and maintain brotherhood,” he said.
Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, who handled the Delhi police when he was Union Home Minister, said people were paying the price for voting in “insensitive and short-sighted” leaders. In a series of tweets, he said the violence and the loss of lives were the “most shocking, and deserve the strongest condemnation”.
Mr. Chidambaram said the amendment to the Citizenship Act should be abandoned forthwith, and the government should listen to those who were protesting against it.
“India has lived with the Citizenship Act, 1955, without the amendment. Why does the Act need an amendment now? The amendment (CAA) should be abandoned forthwith. Even now, it is not too late. The government should listen to the voices of the anti-CAA protesters and declare that the CAA will be kept in abeyance until the Supreme Court pronounced on its validity,” he wrote on Twitter.
He said his party had warned that the CAA was “deeply divisive” and should be repealed or abandoned, but the “warning fell on deaf ears”.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also blamed the Centre for the violence. “Govt of India sits mute as the capital of India burns. There is complete breakdown of law and order. Ineptitude and incompetence of this Government has led to houses burnt and lives lost,” he wrote on Twitter. “We urge Govt to use its might to bring peace to Delhi & bring justice on all elements responsible.”
