After initially hailing the Jamia Nagar shootout in New Delhi as a victory against terrorism, the Congress now finds itself in a bind.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, a growing section in the party wants to address local sentiments as doubts over the authenticity of the shootout get stronger.
The top Congress leadership is now busy trying to balance the acts of the security forces, led by its own government, and Muslim discontent.
A large number of Delhi Congress leaders will meet Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil shortly to convey the Muslim sentiments. Sources say some local leaders have already met Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and some central leaders of the party on the issue. As the state unit leaders are getting jittery, the top leadership is feeling the heat and endorsing the need to address the doubts being raised over the incident, in which Delhi police killed two suspected terrorists and arrested one. Police officer MC Sharma was killed in the shootout.
Party General Secretary Digvijay Singh today said, “Certain questions have been raised. These must be addressed by the Delhi police and the home ministry.”
Although the party wants to address the local sentiments, it can’t take a public stand given the sensitive nature of the issue. The meetings between the party leaders have taken place at an informal level and officially the party has refused to take any stand till new facts emerge.
As the Muslim discontent over the shootout started growing, several party leaders, including Union Minister Kapil Sibal and local MLA Parvez Hashmi, visited Jamia Nagar to interact with the people and raised vital questions — like will a terrorist give his real name and address to acquire SIM cards, as has been found in this case?