Congress MP and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Saturday highlighted two recent incidents of communal violence in the state to allege that the BJP government was playing a partisan role and compromising the integrity of
the administration.

Singh has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to intervene.

Speaking at a news conference along with rights activists and victims of the violence in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam and Maksi towns, Singh said: “Since 2014, the ‘double-engine’ (BJP-ruled) states have filed false cases on innocents while letting criminals go scot free.... They have a narrow vision in which just one community is punished and harassed.”

Communal clashes took place on September 7 in Ratlam when a Ganesh Chaturthi procession took an unauthorised route in front of a minority place of worship.

On September 23 in Maksi, local resident Amzad Khan was killed and Junaid was left in a coma following gunfire that allegedly took place during a BJP membership drive in a minority-populated area. Junaid’s brother was killed during a communal riot
in 2010.

With video footage and testimonies of victims, Singh said: “Fundamentalist groups claimed that a stone had hit the idol during the procession in Ratlam and they started setting fire to shops and attacked a mosque. Ratlam superintendent of police (SP) Rahul Lodha found that no Muslim was involved and he arrested the rioters. He was transferred overnight.”

He added: “In Maksi, a man named Anis informed the police that the violence had taken place because the BJP members were forcing people to join their party. He was arrested and the people who committed the violence were taken to hospital. No action has been taken against the SP or the town inspector.”

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Singh demanded impartial probes on complaints of victims from any community, rehabilitation and compensation for the victims and kin of the deceased, disciplinary action against errant cops, cases against rioters and provocateurs, and adherence to the Centre and the Supreme Court’s guidelines on handling riots.

He concluded the letter by saying: “You will definitely pay attention to the facts mentioned in this letter and show self-confidence to fulfil your resolve to protect the rights given to every citizen of India by the Constitution and make the slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas’ come true in true sense.”

Singh was flanked by Khan’s family, including his eight-year-old daughter Maida, who held a placard saying, “We want justice.” He told The Telegraph, “All options are open to us including that of taking a Communal Harmony March from Maksi to the CM’s residence in Bhopal where this family will ask him if he can give them justice.”