An alleged rape of a 14-month old girl, allegedly, by a migrant worker, has sparked an outrage among a section of Gujaratis who have taken law in their own hands to attack the Hindi speaking migrants, especially, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The incident of alleged rape took place on September 28 in Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat and the accused, Ravindra Sahu, hailing from Bihar was subsequently arrested by the police.
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The rape and the accused involvement in the rape was circulated on social media with a message inciting hatred for the non-Gujaratis. Several incidents of violence were reported from various parts of Gujarat since then, Mehsana and Sabarkantha, being the most affected ones. As many as 342 persons were arrested and around 42 cases were registered against the attackers. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, and Bihar, Nitish Kumar, spoke to their counterpart, Vijay Ripani, Chief Minister of Gujarat, on the issue. Rupani assured both the CMs of every possible steps to normalise the situation in the state and that no attacks on UP and Bihar people will be allowed.
Irrespective of the assurance, the migrants kept fleeing from Gujarat to their respective states. A TOI report states that as many as 100 migrants have already fled from Ahmedabad after an incident of setting a godown near Kabir Temple on fire was reported from Vastral. The same report stated that as per a tour operator in Gujarat, around 25,000 migrants have left Ahmedabad in just 2 days. “at least 25,000 migrants have left Ahmedabad alone in the past 2 days,” said Mahipatsinh Rajawat who is a tour operator running buses between Gujarat, UP and MP, TOI quoted.
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The Gujarat police have arrested two Thakor Sena members and a Congress leader for spreading hate messages on social media against the migrants. Alpesh Thakor, a Congress MLA from Gujarat, refuted the accusations against his involvement in inciting the hate crime against the migrants living in Gujarat. However, police have arrested his associates in the case. The Congress party president Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Gujarat’s BJP government and blamed poverty and unemployment as the root cause of the violence in the state. He took it to Twitter and wrote, “Gareebi se badi koi dahshat nahin hai. Gujarat mein ho rahe hinsa ki jad wahan ke band pade kaarkhane aur berozgaari hai,” and further condemned the attack on the migrant workers.
ग़रीबी से बड़ी कोई दहशत नहीं है| गुजरात में हो रहे हिंसा की जड़ वहाँ के बंद पड़े कारख़ाने और बेरोज़गारी है|
व्यवस्था और अर्थव्यवस्था दोनो चरमरा रही है|
प्रवासी श्रमिकों को इसका निशाना बनाना पूर्णत ग़लत है| मैं पूरी तरह से इसके ख़िलाफ़ खड़ा रहूँगा| pic.twitter.com/yLabmmZDwk
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 8, 2018
The Chief Minister of Gujarat took the cognisance of the tweet by the Congress chief and replied asking if Rahul Gandhi has any shame as he claimed that Congress party incites violence and then it’s president condemns the act. Meanwhile, an investigation is underway to book the culprit behind the violence as well as the state administration is trying to pacify the situation between the non-Gujaratis and Gujaratis in the state.
Congress first incites violence against Migrants.
Congress President tweets to condemn this violence.
Does the Congress President not have any shame?— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018
If the Congress President is against the violence in Gujarat, he needs to take action against its own members who incited violence against the migrants in Gujarat.
Tweeting is not the solution, taking action is! But will he act?— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018
We are working hard to ensure trust & confidence among all citizens that they are safe & secure in Gujarat, instead of indulging in blame game.
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018
However, Congress President needs to be ashamed of tweeting this when his own party is inciting violence against migrants.
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018
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