‘Shinde should be sacked for dividing nation on communal lines’: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde should be sacked by President Pranab Mukherjee with immediate effect for dividing the country on communal lines.

“And, on the basis of the submission, the direction, the orders issued by the Home Minister for a gross violation of the constitutional provisions where the honourable Home Minister has chosen to segregate a community for a directive should be sacked by the President with immediate effect,” said BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

“And, the Bharatiya Janata Party would demand the sacking of the Home Minister of this country for moving and attempting to divide the nation on communal lines,” he added, while reacting sharply to Shinde’s letter written to all states asking them to ‘ensure that no innocent Muslim youth is wrongfully detained in the name of terror’.

In a letter sent to chief ministers of all states today, Shinde asked them to avoid detaining innocent Muslim youth wrongfully.

Shinde said the Central Government has been receiving representations about alleged harassment of innocent Muslim youth by law enforcement agencies, and added that there is a growing feeling of alienation in the community.

“Minority youth have started feeling that they are deliberately targeted and deprived of their basic rights,” he added.

“Government has to ensure that no innocent person is subjected to undue harassment,” he told the chief ministers.

He urged state governments to set up special courts in consultation with the concerned high court for trial of terror-related cases, appoint special public prosecutors for trial of these cases and give priority to terror cases over other pending cases.

Shinde said law enforcement agencies should be satisfied with regard to communal and social harmony while ensuring zero tolerance for terrorism.

He also called for strict and prompt action against erring police officers.

In May, the Central Government has set up the 39 special courts under the NIA Act to take up terror-related cases. (ANI)