New Delhi (IANS): Demanded a fair investigation into the Bhima-Koregaon riots, the Congress on Friday slammed BJP’s double speak after NDA ally and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale had remarked that it was not right to arrest Dalit rights activists branding them as Maoists.
Seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter, it said he should make it clear whether the probe by the Pune police was correct or the statement by Athawale, who had also demanded a probe into the role of Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide for allegedly instigating violence against Dalits.
“BJP’s duplicity and double speak exposed again in Bhima-Koregaon! Union Minister, Athawale calls arrests of Dalit activists as ‘injustice’ and says ‘no relation of Elgaar Parishad with violence’.
“Maharashtra Govt describes them as ‘maoist operatives’. Who is lying?” asked Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewla in a series of tweets.
Noting Athawale had also called for arrest of “RSS acolyte” Bhide, who Modi visited in 2014 and praised in a public rally, he asked if this was the reason whether the Maharashtra government is not acting against him.
“A fair investigation, bereft of politics, is the need of the hour,” he added.
Congress spokesperon Shaktisinh Gohil said: “If the union minister is telling a lie, he should be removed from his post. If the Pune police investigation is correct, then it should specify the basis of the probe.”