Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur: A day before the scheduled visit of a BJP central delegation to violence-hit Sambalpur, the ruling BJD Monday attacked the saffron party, accusing it of trying to fan fresh trouble in the western Odisha city.
Curfew was completely lifted from the city Sunday following an “improvement in situation”, days after clashes between two groups of people during a motorcycle rally and a Hanuman Jayanti procession April 12 and 14 respectively left several people, including policemen, injured.
“Even though normalcy has returned to Sambalpur due to cooperation from people and strong administrative measures, the BJP is now attempting to trigger fresh disturbance by issuing hate statements and igniting passions,” BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya told reporters here.
Noting that the BJD strongly condemns any such move by the BJP, Acharya said he was optimistic that people would reject such attempts to create fresh trouble.
He alleged that a section of BJP leaders was making such attempts with the political intention to gain from the situation.
“The BJP leaders are making attempts to establish their political base by misleading the people. We are surprised that BJP president J P Nadda has constituted a team to undertake fact-finding in Sambalpur. Has he ever made such teams when communal clashes took place in BJP-ruled states?” he said.
Quoting an NCRB report, Acharya said 25 incidents of communal clashes took place in the country in 2019, of which the highest of nine were reported in Uttar Pradesh, followed by four in Maharashtra and two in Madhya Pradesh.
The highest number of incidents of communal violence in 2021 was reported in Haryana, and in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in 2022, he said.
“Did Nadda send fact-finding teams to the BJP-ruled states then?” he said.
Another BJD leader Gautam Buddha Das, without naming anyone, alleged that a senior BJP leader, with “ambitions to contest from Sambalpur in the next general elections”, is trying to create unrest for political gains.
“The saffron party must, however, realise that the people of Odisha will never allow its gameplan to succeed,” he said.
Visiting BJP MP and a member of the party’s fact-finding team, Brij Lal, after arriving at Jharsuguda, came down heavily on the BJD government and held the state administration and the police responsible for the violence.
“We have all along tried to unite people. The state government has been creating divisions by adopting an appeasement policy,” he told reporters.
BJP spokesperson Pitambar Acharya dismissed the BJD’s charges and said, “There has been a bid to cover up the inefficiency of the police, which failed to contain the violence despite having prior intelligence inputs in this regard.”
Members of the BJP’s fact-finding team reached Jharsuguda during the day. They will visit Sambalpur Tuesday and meet the affected people and the officials of the administration.
PTI
