Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday triggered a major controversy by writing a letter to Chief Ministers asking them to ensure that no innocent Muslim youth was wrongfully detained. Shinde’s unprecedented action led an outraged BJP to demand his dismissal accusing him of dividing the country on communal lines. The CPI accused the Congress of trying to seek political advantage in view of elections.
In his letter to the Chief Ministers, Shinde said the Central Government has been receiving various representations on alleged harassment of innocent Muslim youth by law enforcement agencies. “Some of the minority youth have started feeling that they are deliberately targeted and deprived of their basic rights,” he wrote.
“The Government has to ensure that no innocent person is subjected to undue harassment,” he told the Chief Ministers. “Strict and prompt action against erring police officers where there is malafide arrests of any member of minority community, wrongfully arrested, the person should not only be released immediately but they should be suitably compensated and rehabilitated to join the mainstream,” he said.
Terming Shinde’s move as an unconstitutional one, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy demanded the dismissal of the Home Minister. Rudy said this was a clever ploy by the UPA Government to divide the country on communal lines during the election season.
“If Shinde had issued the letter without associating the religion of the person, it would not have been an issue. Had he used the word Indian — of any religion — then it would have been better. Shinde should be sacked with immediate effect for dividing the country on communal lines,” said Rudy.
Hitting out at Shinde, he said he is either ignorant or has forgotten the Constitution and asked him to recall his oath of office in which one takes the pledge of serving without any bias to any religion, caste or creed.
“It would have been fair to the country at large if he had not mentioned one particular religion in his letter,” Rudy said.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu alleged that Shinde has written this letter for votebank politics and keeping the forthcoming elections in mind. He said Shinde’s move is “unconstitutional and questionable” and demanded that the directive should be taken back immediately.
CPI’s D Raja accused Congress of seeking political advantage by trying to woo Muslim voters ahead of the lok Sabha polls and said the law is equal to everybody and should be applied equally to all citizens.
Shinde’s move came close on the heels of Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan writing to him over “wrong arrests” of Muslim youths in different parts of the country in terror cases. Appraising the Home Ministry of the concerns expressed by various Muslim bodies that the “draconian” provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act can be misused against minorities, Khan had proposed setting up of special courts to ensure speedy trial of all terror cases.
Fully backing the Minority Affairs Minister’s suggestion of setting up of special courts, Shinde wrote back to him saying, “You have my assurance that this will happen”.