26 Aug, New Delhi: The Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Muhammad Salim Engineer has condemned the violence that erupted after the Special CBI Court pronounced Baba Ram-Rahim guilty of rape. In a statement to the media, the JIH Secretary General said that: ‘’ we condemn the violence that has taken place yesterday in Haryana. The BJP government in Haryana along with the law and order machinery is responsible for maintaining peace in the state and they have miserably failed in performing their duty. Allowing such a large number of Baba’s followers to gather outside the court was a major administrative failure as it was obvious that these devotees would get violent should there be any adverse judgment against their Baba. Particularly condemnable is the violence which was directed against media persons who were in the line of duty covering the event. It should also be noted that this breakdown of law and order machinery in Haryana has occurred previously too during the sit-in by followers of Baba Rampal in Sirsa and at the time of the Jat agitation for reservation. Jamaat hopes that the Central government will intervene and mob violence will be brought under control as soon as possible and those guilty of violence will be booked and punished.

One of the underlying reasons for this rampant violence is the climate of hate and violence that has been created in the country by some anti-social elements without any step taken by those in authority to counter it. The state and central governments remained a mute spectator to lawless mobs who committed violence in broad daylight. The police and administrative machinery appeared to be paralyzed in front of these lawless mobs as they knew that the anti social elements enjoyed the patronage of the ruling party. The Central government must learn lessons from this episode and understand that going soft on criminals will lead to anarchy and this will be a great loss to our country.

Issued by

Media Department

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind