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Haryana riots, Gorakhpur tragedy, rail mishaps: Modi govt has a new scapegoat for every tragedy

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Ashok Upadhyay
Ashok UpadhyayAug 27, 2017 | 14:20

Haryana riots, Gorakhpur tragedy, rail mishaps: Modi govt has a new scapegoat for every tragedy

A day after more than 30 people were killed following violence by controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s followers across Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court criticised the Manohar Lal Khattar government for “politically surrendering” to the Dera Sacha Sauda to “allure vote bank”.

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More than 30 people were killed and 250 injured in the violence after Gurmeet Ram Rahim was found  guilty of rape and taken to judicial custody.

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While hearing a public interest litigation, the HC observed that the Panchkula deputy commissioner of police, who was suspended, was being made a “scapegoat” and sought a deeper probe into the state’s failure.

The court castigated the chief minister, who alleged that anti-social elements and miscreants were behind the violence. The HC said, “If the CM came to know in a day about anti-social elements, why couldn’t you prevent their entry for the last seven days?”

The high court slammed state advocate general Baldev Raj Mahajan and held Khattar responsible for protecting the Dera Sacha Sauda.

“You [state government] have been misleading [us]. There has been a sea difference between administrative and political decisions.

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More than 30 children died within 48 hours in BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.

Administrative decisions were paralysed because of political decisions. You have placed a DCP under suspension, but was he the only person responsible for all this? Are you trying to tell us that?” 

Suspended Panchkula DCP Ashok Kumar, however, is not the first scapegoat who has had to pay for ills plaguing states. And if accountability has to be fixed, heads of big ministers must roll. India has seen at least two examples in the past 13 days.

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Principal of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur, Dr Rajeev Mishra, was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government after the death of 30 infants within a span of 48 hours. The deaths happened allegedly because of the disruption in oxygen supply due to pending payments to the supplier, a charge refuted by the state government.

While the state government maintained that none of the deaths were related to disruption in oxygen supply, it admitted that there was a shortage on the intervening night of August 10-11.

Evidence suggests that not only the medical college, but even ministers and the CM himself had ignored reminders about critical oxygen supply running low. But barring few officials of the medical college no one has lost his or her job.

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Twenty-three lives were lost, 153 passengers injured and 26 left in grievous condition after the derailment in Khatauli, Muzaffarnagar.

These officials may have erred but what about their political masters? If without any probe, the government can come to a conclusion about the culpability of these officials, why is the same yardstick not applied to ministers or the chief minister?

Prima facie it seems that they have been made a scapegoat to protect the bigger sharks.

Three days after the Utkal Express derailed near Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar killing 22 and injuring more than 150 people, another train derailed in Auraiya in same state. Nine coaches of the Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyat Express train derailed in which more than 70 people were injured.

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After two train accidents in four days, the chairman of the Railway Board, Ashok Mittal, submitted his resignation taking moral responsibilities. It was immediately accepted. Railway minister SureshPrabhu too indicated that taking moral responsibility he had offered to resign but the prime minister had asked him to wait.

The minister’s fate is expected to become clear when an impending cabinet reshuffle takes place. And if news reports are to be believed, he may get another portfolio.

Here too government found a scapegoat in the Railway Board chairman.

Three incidents in 13 days led to the deaths of more than 100 people. And all three were man-made tragedies. But no minister or chief minister has taken moral responsibility and resigned. In all three cases, few officials have been made the “scapegoats”.

The previous government at the Centre headed by Manmohan Singh wasn’t any better.

However, during the last UPA government, when such tragedies happened, the BJP asked for resignations of ministers. The least that the present government can do is to follow what it asked the UPA to do.

If it can’t, the BJP has no moral right to call itself a “party with a difference”.

 

Last updated: August 27, 2017 | 14:25
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