The Congress Party on Monday demanded the arrest of Minister of State for Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ram Shankar Katheria for his participation in an event in Agra during which the Muslims were allegedly threatened by the VHP activists.
Asserting that similar incident like the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots should not be repeated, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to initiate apt action against all those who were part of the event.
"The Union Minister goes and arouses communal feelings, asks the people to take up arms, something that is completely anti-constitutional. They should be immediately booked. An FIR should be launched, and the minister, the Members of Parliament, the local MLAs and others, who were on the stage and the VHP members should be put behind the bars," said Dikshit.
Another Congress leader Pramod Tiwari echoing similar sentiments said the guilty should be arrested and investigated immediately.
"Even those ministers present at the event should be arrested. Despite their presence, such statements targeting a community creates caste conflict, communal conflict which is against the law of the country," said Tiwari.
According to reports, Katheria, along with BJP MP from Fatehpur Sikri Babu Lal, had recently attended a condolence meeting held for VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was allegedly killed by Muslim youth, in Agra. During the meeting, several speakers threatened the Muslim community of revenge.
One of the speakers also reportedly asked the gathering to "corner Muslims and destroy the demons (rakshas).
A leading daily also quoted BJP Fatehpur Sikri MP as saying, "If you want to test Hindus, then let's decide a date and take on Muslims.
