Bhopal encounter: Communalising incident cheap politics, says Venkaiah Naidu

The government has hit out strongly at the communal tone being given to the Bhopal encounter. “Suddenly, in this case (Bhopal) the religion has come. This is all cheap politics. I appeal to all to avoid politics, take care of security and safety of the country,” Union information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday. Claiming that it was nothing but “dirty politics”, he said that it being a matter concerning the safety and security, nobody should try to politicise it.

Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju said that it has virtually become a “habit” to question authorities and raise doubts. He added that facts will come out soon and decried the “habit” of raising doubts and questioning the authorities and the police in such incidents. “It is not good to raise questions on security forces dealing with terrorists, just on the basis of videos.” A controversy had erupted when unverified videos of the encounter started coming out on certain TV channels.

Raising questions over the encounter, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh took on the Chouhan government. “Why only Muslims have been breaking jails in the state of Madhya Pradesh and why is it that Simi men only break jails ” Mr Singh said, adding, “It happened in Khandwa and now in Bhopal and why only Muslims are involved and not Hindus ” He once again demanded that a judicial probe should be immediately ordered. The Left parties have also demanded that a judicial enquiry should take place. CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP D. Raja said, “The BJP has been politicising the issue as its wants to polarise people communally. This is being done with Assembly elections on mind, especially those in Uttar Pradesh.” While the CPI(M) politburo saw many discrepancies in the statements which came from the Madhya Pradesh government and the police, the politburo said, “The claim by the police that the accused were shot dead after they were attacked by these men who were armed is contradicted by state’s home minister Bhupendra Singh. These men securing arms while being unable to get a vehicle to make good their escape sounds implausible.”

The encounter has united several opposition parties which include the BSP and the RJD. There is a growing chorus of having a court monitored probe in both the jailbreak and the encounter.