‘National Shame’: Sonia, Manmohan Meet Prez, Seek Shah’s Removal

“What has happened is matter of great shame, a total failure of the government,” Manmohan Singh said.

A delegation of senior Congress leaders, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday, 27 February.

(Photo: ANI)

A delegation of senior Congress leaders, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday, 27 February, to seek normalcy and peace in violence-hit Delhi.

The delegation, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad as well as Ahmed Patel and Randeep Surjewala, also submitted a memorandum to the president.

“We call upon you (President) to ensure that life, liberty, and property of citizens are preserved. We also reiterate that you should immediately call for the removal of the home minister for his inability to contain violence,” Sonia Gandhi said while reading out the memorandum after meeting Kovind.

“We called upon the president to suggest to him that what has happened in last four days in Delhi is a matter of great concern and a matter of national shame in which at least 34 people have died and 200 people are injured, it is a reflection on total failure of central government,” Singh said.

The total death toll in the northeast Delhi communal violence over the amended citizenship law is now 34, according to senior officials.

‘What Was Amit Shah Preoccupied With Since Last Sunday?’

Accusing Shah of “abdication of duty” during the violence in Delhi, the Congress delegation urged the President to remind the Centre of its “raj dharma,” PTI reported.

Gandhi said both the Delhi government and the Centre remained “mute spectators” instead of trying to take remedial measures to control the situation.

"Rashtrapatiji, you are given the highest possible responsibility under the Constitution of India: To act as the conscience keeper of this government and to remind it of its constitutional duty and the pillars of raj dharma by which any just government must abide," Gandhi said, flanked by senior leaders of her party.

Questioning Shah's role, Gandhi asked where he was as the violence spread across northeast Delhi.

“What was he preoccupied with since last Sunday that he was unable, apparently, to give his attention to these grave events? For that matter, the Delhi chief minister, and the newly elected Delhi government were also completely missing from the scene.”

Sonia Gandhi, Congress President

Gandhi said both the Centre and the Kejriwal-led Delhi government had failed in carrying out their responsibilities.

‘Seeds of Division Sown by Inflammatory Remarks of BJP Leaders’

Hitting out at Delhi Police, Gandhi said the forces on the ground were clearly inadequate to quell the situation in northeast Delhi and asked why additional security forces were not deployed immediately by Shah, PTI reported.

Gandhi also said it was a "shameful indictment" of the central government, the home ministry and the home minister himself, that the Delhi High Court had to step in (on Wednesday).

It had to remind the Home ministry and the police of their principal duty to act against instigators, the rioters and those engaging in the acts of targeted violence, she said.

Gandhi said it is particularly worrying is that an atmosphere of sectarian hate and communal tensions has been spread and deliberately cultivated by certain individuals and forces.

“This violence has taken place over the course of four days, but you are aware that the seeds of this division have been sown by deliberately made inflammatory remarks of BJP leaders in the run up to (and even after) the Delhi elections and a calculated design to foment hate and division amongst the citizens of this country," Gandhi added.

Responding to a question on the president’s silence on the violence, Gandhi said it is how the leaders and institutions of a country react in times of crisis that defines how we are remembered by history and the rest of the world.

(With inputs from PTI)