Congress doing politics over Katni incident but silent on Kolkata rape-murder case, alleges Madhya Pradesh BJP

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh BJP on Friday accused the Congress of playing politics over the Katni incident in which a woman and her grandson were beaten up by the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel, and questioned the opposition party's "silence" over the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday suspended six GRP personnel, including a police station in-charge, in connection with the incident of beating in Katni district after its video went viral. Targeting the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government, Congress leaders on Thursday staged a sit-in protest inside a police station in Katni, demanding the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused.

Sharing the video on social media, the opposition Congress claimed that the victims were Dalit.

Responding to the Congress' criticism, state BJP chief V D Sharma said, "As soon as the 10-11 month-old video of Katni, which is part of my parliamentary constituency, came to my and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's notice, the government took action and suspended six police personnel. The government always takes immediate action over such unfortunate incidents." The police do not have any right to punish the family members of even a hardened criminal. Hence, all of them were suspended, he said.

"But unfortunately, in Tikamgarh, where accused Salim Khan and Laloo Khan committed injustice with a tribal victim (female), the Congress leadership maintains a studied silence. They can't even hear such things. Similarly, I want to ask (MP Congress chief) Jitu Patwari why he chose to remain silent when a police station was attacked in a pre-planned manner in Chhatarpur," he asked.

Sharma accused the Congress of standing behind criminals, stating that its party leaders, including former chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, did not utter even a single word about the Chhatarpur incident.

"This is because they indulge in politics of appeasement 24x7," he said.

The state BJP president also questioned the silence of Congress leaders over the Kolkata rape and murder case.

"On the one hand, the entire country is pained over the Kolkata incident and protests are being held, top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Vadra did not feel the pain because it happened in West Bengal...It is their appeasement policies," he said.