By IANS,
Lucknow : The central government would not dismiss the Rajasthan government though it was responsible for the violent turn to the Gujjar agitation last month, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said here Tuesday.
“The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Rajasthan) had gone back on its election promise of granting Scheduled Tribes status to the Gujjars and this created the mess,” he told reporters.
Jaiswal said the central government had granted all assistance to the Vasundhara Raje government it asked for contain the violence, but maintenance of law and order in the state was the responsibility of the state government.
At least 39 people were killed, most of them in police firing, in Rajasthan after the Gujjar community’s protests turned violent.
He praised the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh for its efforts to check Maoist violence and said it could not be tackled by force but by development and dialogue.
On the other hand, Maoism continues to be a major problem in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa, he said.
None of these states are ruled by the Congress, which Jaiswal represents.