New Delhi: Congress today alleged a virtual jungle raj in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh marked by fake encounters, gangrape of tribal women, false surrender of Naxalites, attacks on journalists and threats to political opponents.
Party leaders from the state as also AICC General Secretary B K Hari Prsad attacked the Raman Singh dispensation for the “misrule” alleging it has brought misery for the people.
State party chief Bhupesh Baghel demanded imposition of President’s rule in the tribal-dominated state claiming that the situation was turning from bad to worse day by day.
He alleged that even the main Opposition party was being threatened with “another Jhiram” by the state administration if they planned to go this week to the Bastar region to see for themselves the atrocities on tribals.
Two years back, some 25 top leaders of Congress in Chhattisgarh including its chief Nandkumar Patel were killed by Naxalites in the Jhiram valley.
Media in the state, they claimed, is a terrorised lot with those publishing news exposing the maladministration are threatened and attacked. Two journalists have been killed.
AICC spokesman Ajoy Kumar squarely blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the state of affairs in Chhattisgarh saying that he could not escape responsibility for what was happening in a BJP ruled state.
A tribal woman Meena Khalko was done to death in 2011 in a police encounter dubbing her as a Maoist, he said adding that the report of the judicial inquiry into the killing has been received by the government long back but is not being tabled in the Assembly.
He claimed while Meena was not a Maoist and was gangraped by the police and done away with.
Party leaders said that complaints of gangrape and police atrocities have been registered by 15 women in Bijapur district.
They alleged that false surrenders of Maoists has become business with a section of the police prompting transfer of a high official recently. Young tribals-men and women-are shown as dreaded Maoists during the surrender when actually their names are never there in the police registers, it was said