MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on live TV, “The rioters will not allow communal harmony until they are cut down in size.” “This is the only way.”
Narottam Mishra said whoever commits the crime will be punished (File/PTI)
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra asked why clashes and violence are reported only during “our festivals” as he has to face questions about communal harmony in the state.
“Ram Navami falls once every year but violence has been reported at 12 places across the country. (Fights) in JNU over eating non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami. All this happens during our festivals and never during them. Isn’t this right?” Mishra told India Today TV as he responded to Asaduddin Owaisi’s allegations that the BJP uses festivals like Ram Navami to spread communal hatred in the society, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi speaks about “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government had said on Monday that it would be compensated for the damage caused to public and private properties by the rioters who clashed in Khargone during Ram Navami procession on Sunday.
Like Yogi Adityanath’s administration in Uttar Pradesh, the district administration bulldozers destroyed the properties of stone pelters.
bulldozer out #Khargone: preventive or illegal? @drnarottammisra Exclusive conversation with India Today.#news today pic.twitter.com/O5H5f5pybz
— India Today (@IndiaToday) 12 April 2022
“Until they are cut down in size, the rioters will not allow communal harmony,” the minister said on live TV. “This is the only way.”
Rejecting the use of Ram Navami processions in various states as a show of strength by political parties, Mishra said, “Did you see party flags of BJP or Congress in the processions which you thought were political rallies?
Asked whether he regretted demolishing the houses of alleged rioters in the state, the minister said, “Whoever commits a crime will be punished.”
Also read: | On Khargone violence, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra says that no criminal will be spared
The Ram Navami procession in Khargone on Sunday witnessed brutal stone-pelting, following which the police had to use tear gas shells to control the situation. A senior official said that this led to the arson and some vehicles and houses were torched. Three police personnel were also among those injured in the clash. Curfew was imposed in the city on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. Locals were asked not to step out except in medical emergencies.
The next day, the state government demolished the houses of the accused to recover the damage caused to the properties.