Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot got into a war of words on June 30 after Mr. Shah claimed that the accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case would have been hanged by now had the Congress government in the State set up a special court to try the case.
Lal, a tailor, was brutally killed in Udaipur in June 2022, for allegedly insulting Islam. The NIA filed a chargesheet against 11 accused in the case in December.
Hitting back at Home Minister, Mr. Gehlot accused the Home Minister of “lying” and said “people in responsible positions should not politicise terrorism”. He alleged that the killers of Lal were active members of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Addressing a public rally in the Udaipur city of poll-bound Rajasthan, Mr. Shah also targeted Rahul Gandhi by alleging that if Mr. Gandhi becomes Prime Minister, “corruption and scams will become India’s destiny” while fraudsters would go behind bars if Narendra Modi is re-elected the Prime Minister.
He also called the Gehlot government number one in corruption and took a dig at the recent Opposition meet in Patna.
Mr. Shah claimed that the punishment to the killers of Kanhaiya Lal – Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed – was delayed because of vote-bank politics.
“Who did not give security to Kanhaiya? Whose police remained silent till he died? You did not even want to catch (the accused), the NIA [National Investigation Agency] caught them. And don’t lie Gehlotji that the chargesheet has not been filed, I say with authority that the chargesheet was filed on December 22, 2022. The task of setting up a special court is yours (State government), so that the accused are punished soon,” the Home Minister said.
“The Rajasthan government, taking the High Court into confidence, did not constitute a special court, otherwise the culprits of Kanhaiya Lal would have been hanged by now. Shame on them [Congress], they do vote-bank politics,” Mr. Shah said.
‘Irresponsible act’
In response, Mr. Gehlot tweeted,“ It is expected that people holding responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism. What Union Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act. Mr. Amit Shah lied in Udaipur that Mr. Kanhaiya Lal’s killers Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed were caught by the NIA whereas the truth is that they were caught by the Rajasthan Police within just four hours of the incident.”
The Chief Minister also posted a copy of the official order that showed that the case was transferred from the Rajasthan Police to the NIA on July 2, 2022.
“Mr. Amit Shah would probably be aware that both these murderers were active BJP workers. They should get an inquiry done as to who were the BJP leaders who helped these two and used to call the police stations for them. In an open-and-shut case, why did it take so long for the chargesheet to be filed and why have they not been punished yet? ” Mr Gehlot said,
Mr. Shah was in Udaipur to highlight the achievements of the Modi government in the past nine years. Senior leaders, including former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition Satish Poonia, were among those present on the stage.
