Cong. seeks judicial probe into Delhi riots, demands resignation of Amit Shah

New Delhi, March 9 (PTI): The Congress on Monday demanded an independent, court-monitored judicial probe into the Delhi riots and sought immediate resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and registration of cases against BJP leaders for alleged inflammatory speeches.

Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said it seems that the Modi government has failed to follow ‘Raj Dharma’ and protect the lives of Delhi citizens as the police was found wanting in their duties. He said the judicial inquiry should be monitored by a high court or Supreme Court judge that should ascertain what led to the violence and fix responsibility of officers found guilty of dereliction in duty.

A fact-finding committee of the Congress earlier in the day submitted a report on the Delhi violence to party chief Sonia Gandhi in which it flagged alleged failure of the central and Delhi governments in instilling confidence among the people. Gandhi had formed the committee to look into the violence in northeast Delhi.

The committee included Mukul Wasnik, Tariq Anwar, Sushmita Dev, Shaktisinh Gohil and Kumari Selja.

“There should be an independent judicial inquiry under the supervision of a Supreme Court or High Court judge that could independently look into the reasons that led to the violence and ascertain who were behind it,” Wasnik said.

“We feel that Amit Shah as the Union Home Minister did not take enough measures to stop the violence in Delhi. We demand that Amit Shah resign immediately. We also demand that FIRs and cases be registered immediately against those BJP leaders who made inflammatory speeches and legal action initiated against them,” he said.

Wasnik also lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), asking whether it was important to take steps by him to instill confidence among people of Delhi and ensure their safety as the Delhi administration was with them. He added that India’s image has been tarnished in the world as the violence happened during the visit of US President Donald Trump to India.

The Congress leader said the probe should also fix responsibility of officers who did not take steps to stop spread of violence and were found wanting for dereliction of duty.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the violence spread as both the BJP and the AAP played politics and demanded the victims of violence be immediately given compensation.

Sushmita Dev said their team had only visited the affected areas to ascertain the facts and not investigate.

“Who is responsible for this? Amit Shah must step down immediately. If we value the lives of people of Delhi, then the only way we can do justice is for the Home Minister to step down,” she said. Training her guns on Kejriwal, she said, “it is a shame that the chief minister of Delhi should do nothing. Kejriwal simply washed his hands off despite the civil administration being under him. He sat only on Twitter and watched the violence spread across Delhi.”

The team visited riot-affected areas in northeast Delhi and met with the victims and their families, both in hospitals as well as in their residences.