Archives

NEW DELHI, March 7 (AFP) - Indian opposition parties called Thursday for the head of Home Minister L.K. Advani and the chief minister of Gujarat state for failing to prevent an eruption of sectarian violence that claimed more than 650 lives last week.

"If you cannot safeguard the lives of the people, I'm sorry to say, Mr. Home Minister, you have no moral authority to stay in office," senior Congress party leader Pranab Mukherjee said during a debate in the upper house of parliament.

"There is no doubt that the Gujarat government failed to protect the lives and property of the (Muslim) minorities," Mukherjee said.

The central and Gujarat state governments have been severely criticised for not acting with enough speed or decisiveness to counter the bloody Hindu backlash in Gujarat that followed the massacre by a Muslim mob of 58 Hindu train passengers.

As well as Advani's resignation, there were numerous calls for the dismissal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his entire administration.

"What were the compulsions that led to the delay in the deployment of the armed forces?" Mukherjee said.

"Did they want to keep their eyes shut? Enough is enough, please realise that you have to shoulder your responsibility. You are accountable to the people of the country and not to only one section."

Troops were deployed in Gujarat after it became clear that the state police were either unable or unwilling to contain the violence.

Defending the government, Law Minister Arun Jaitley accused the opposition of wanting to "play the blame game" by demanding resignations.

"The need of hour is to take steps to cool down the temperatures of the people ... are you going to cool temperatures or are you going to create provocations?" Jaitley said.

The minister said 3,895 people had been arrested by the police for participating in the riots, while 98 had died in police firing.

Despite this, critics were continuously saying that the police had not acted to restore order, Jaitley said.

Though he agreed that "mobs on the streets" could not be allowed to take "the law into their hands and mete out street justice," Jaitley said neither could opposition parties "build a dishonest case saying the police have been passive spectators."

The row over the handling of the riots had earlier forced the adjournment of the lower house of parliament for the day.

Advani was expected to reply to the debate in the upper house. 

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager