Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah came down heavily on the State government for failing to bear the moral responsibility for the unrest, and instead blaming the Congress for its failure.
In an open letter to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, on Wednesday, he demanded an inquiry into the disturbances by a High Court judge to ensure a fair and impartial probe.
“If the government cannot control violence a stone’s throw away from the administrative centre of the government and cannot protect a police station and an MLA’s house, why should such a State government be there? It is evident that there has been Intelligence failure,” he said in the letter. Mr. Siddaramaiah blamed delay in police action against the person who made the derogatory social media post that sparked the violence. While saying initial reports indicated the involvement of the SDPI, he said the government must take stringent action against any individual or organisation found to be involved. “The ruling party forming a fact-finding committee is a cruel joke on democracy. Doesn’t the investigation by the police get influenced if a ruling party forms a fact-finding committee and comes out with a report?” he wrote.
He highlighted two recent events — a video clip of Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai purportedly assuring VHP leader Sharan Pumpwell that all cases against him would be withdrawn and a Hindu youth being arrested for putting a masjid banner on the canopy of a Adi Shankaracharya statue — and criticised the BJP and State government for being “selective” in its action. If the masjid had no CCTV cameras, innocent Muslim youths would have been languishing in jail instead of a former Bajrang Dal worker in the latter case, he said.
