The Congress in Rajasthan has rubbished all the BJP claims, saying it was nothing but a last-ditch effort to divert attention.
In a fierce attack on the over four-year rule of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, a number of Union ministers have come down heavily on the “tyrannical government” in the state as they pointed out that “more than 161,000 criminal incidents were committed against women” between 2018-2022. The Congress in a single statement has refuted all the BJP claims, saying it was nothing but a last-ditch effort to divert attention.
Leading the BJP counter-offensive against the Congress in Parliament on the opening day of the Monsoon Session, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday cited crimes against women in Rajasthan, including incidents where videos had emerged. As the Congress-led Opposition created an uproar over the Manipur viral video of Kuki women’s sexual harassment on 4 May, Thakur said: “I want to give an example of Rajasthan where crimes against women are at its highest.”
He pointed out the crime statistics by the NCRB that said one-fifth of the 30,000 rape cases registered in 2021 were reported from Rajasthan. “I want to ask Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi if they know of the woman who was gang-raped in Alwar in front of her husband and her video was made viral too, but the police didn’t bring it out in the open due to elections. Does the Congress only want action against women from one state?”
“Not just this, in Rajasthan’s Jaipur just five minutes away from the CM’s residence, a woman was first assaulted in front of her 10-year-old son and then her body was set ablaze. Will these incidents never come out in the media? Will Sonia Gandhi and the Opposition remain mum over it?” Thakur asked.
Law and order in the Ashok Gehlot-ruled state has been in a shambles, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal claimed at a press interaction, as he pointed out an incident where four members of a family, including an infant, were charred to death. The Member of Parliament from Bikaner also alleged that many incidents of rape and several murders were being reported in Rajasthan daily since the Congress government came to power. “The law and order situation has deteriorated in Rajasthan since the Congress government came to power under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot. We can provide a list to what extent the law and order situation has deteriorated,” said Meghwal during the press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“If I analyse as a Law Minister, the reason behind this is Ashok Gehlot himself,” he said. “Today an incident has happened in Jodhpur district. Four of a family were burnt to death. A woman was gang-raped three days back,” the Minister said, as he questioned the state government on law and order. Launching a scathing attack on the Congress-led government in Rajasthan, Meghwal also accused Gehlot of doing vote-bank politics. Assembly elections in Rajasthan is scheduled later this year and law and order would be one of the major issues for the BJP to take on the Gehlot government. “It has been quarter to five years that law and order has vanished from the state of Rajasthan, which now has the worst crime rate in the country,” Udaipur MLA Amit Lal Meena told The Sunday Guardian. “Especially women and girl child are the victims of atrocities. An estimated 10,000 cases of crime take place every day and most go unreported. At least 3,000 murders take place on a regular basis. There is nothing called law and order in Rajasthan,” Meena alleged. “We have raised the issue of corruption, law and order, paper leak, electricity with the Gehlot government during the ongoing assembly session,” Meena said over the phone.
“What has never happened in the world has happened in this state. At least 19 times there has been cases of paper leak. Children have no future, especially those coming from less economically developed families, where parents have sold their lands, jewellery, and their last drop of savings to get their kids educated,” Meena said.
Over 70 lakh students appearing for various kinds of competitive examinations have been affected by paper leaks, the legislator said. “One of Congress’ well-known faces Babulal Katara is linked. Everyone knows about the RPSC member Babulal Katara, who leaked the senior teacher recruitment examination paper,” he said, adding, on the recommendation of the state government, the governor made him a member of the largest agency for recruitment of government jobs. “The person was responsible for giving government jobs to the eligible candidates in a fair manner. Instead, his greed made him sell off the vacancies for money. What can be a bigger tragedy than this for Rajasthan?” alleged Meena.
He said, “Some of the worst crimes are taking place in CM Gehlot’s home district. From A to Z of Gehlot’s government are hands- and knees- deep in corruption. Not a leaf moves in a tree in Rajasthan under the Gehlot government without bribe.”
“Farmers are the worst-hit in the state, not all have been waived their loans even to this day. Electricity bills have been raised 19 times, surcharges raised so many times. Every assurance of this Congress government is just lip service,” he added.
“Every strata of the state society are unhappy with Gehlot’s rule, police, patwari, sarpanch, people,” Meena said. Alleging that the “law and order” situation has deteriorated in the state under the ruling dispensation, BJP national secretary Alka Gurjar said, “The report of the National Crime Records Bureau states that Rajasthan has become number one in crime against women. Several incidents of murder and rape are reported daily.”
Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat on Wednesday mentioned in Capital Dialogue that the most horrific crimes on women are taking place in Rajasthan. Retweeting a video posted by BJP on Thursday of a person being beaten up by a mob, the Union Jal Shakti Minister said: “Increasing crimes in Rajasthan is the result of the inaction of the poor governance here. Now, the public is ready to teach a lesson to this Gehlot government. CM sir, doesn’t your soul tremble after seeing the ‘jungle rule’ spread in the state?”
Using the hashtag #NahiSahegaRajasthan (that roughly translates to #RajasthanWillNotTolerate), the Union minister on Thursday said: “Pratap Singh Khachariawas, a minister in the Gehlot government, says that there is vandalism in the clubs every day, minor vandalism was done, one took out a knife, there was a case of three people…”
Shekhawat was aghast at the nonchalance of Khachariawas, and the central minister said: “They forgot that there was a woman among the three people!! Don’t know what enmity this government has against women?” Shekhawat added, “Due to ‘misrule’ of the Congress government in the four years of the tyrannical government, more than 161,000 criminal incidents were committed against women.”
Congress spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Rathore said, “The very fact of the PM bringing up Congress-ruled states while finally making a statement on Manipur, shows the BJP’s last-ditch effort to divert attention.” A Rajasthan Congress worker also highlighted that in the Jodhpur case of the family burnt along with an infant, a 19-year-old man has already been arrested for allegedly killing four members of his uncle’s family over an old land dispute. “It is there in the media to see. It has been reported that the bodies were set on fire by the accused who confessed that he carried out the crime as he believed his uncle would inherit the ancestral property.” Rajasthan’s human rights body has requested a report on the incident.