Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday criticised the comparison being made between a Dalit man’s killing in Hanumangarh district and the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. He said the BJP leaders making the comparison lacked sense in reacting to violent incidents.
A 29-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death by a group of persons at Prempura village last week and his body dumped outside his house. The assailants recorded the assault on video and circulated it on social media. Police have so far arrested seven persons in the case.
While affirming that prompt action was taken and the accused apprehended, Mr. Gehlot questioned the wisdom of BJP leaders’ demand that Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi visit the village. “Why should they visit a Congress-ruled State? It is the Opposition which should go there and point out the shortcomings, if any,” he told reporters after a function at the Secretariat here.
‘PM should come’
The Prime Minister, the Home Minister or the BJP national president should come to Hanumangarh to see what happened there and why the lynching took place. “The leaders who claim to be chief ministerial candidates are talking in this manner. They don’t have sense on how to react to an incident,” he stated in an oblique reference to BJP State president Satish Poonia.
No BJP leader had gone to the house of the deceased. “The Opposition leaders are sitting here in Jaipur and want to remain in news. They are making useless comments on social media. Only today they have thought of sending a delegation [to Prempura],” he observed.
Coal crisis
Mr. Gehlot also took a dig at the Centre over the coal crisis. He noted that it was the Centre’s responsibility to bring the States out of the crisis. Since the prices had increased manifold and coal was not available, the Union Power Minister, coordinating with the States for power supply, should find out a solution instead of shifting the responsibility to the States, he added.
