NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday condemned the violent protests in Leh, calling the incident "deeply saddening, " while the Congress launched a scathing attack on the government, blaming the unrest on what it termed as "years of misleading rhetoric and neglect."
The protests in Leh turned violent on Wednesday, leaving four protesters dead and over 40 injured after clashes with security forces.
The unrest saw mobs setting vehicles ablaze, torching the BJP’s local office, partially gutting the Leh Hill Council office, and damaging several other government properties.
Reacting to the violence, Jaiveer Singh, Uttar Pradesh’s Minister for Tourism and Culture, told IANS, “Whatever happened in Leh is quite sad. Who is responsible for the protest? Who conspired to create this unrest? An investigation has been ordered, and those found responsible will face action. We are committed to maintaining law and order in the country.”
Senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also condemned it and said, “The incident that occurred there is extremely unfortunate. A thorough investigation is underway to determine who instigated it and why it happened. This should not have happened.”
However, the Congress party lashed out at the BJP-led Central government, accusing it of ignoring the legitimate concerns of the people of Ladakh and attempting to divert attention by labeling every protest as part of an “international conspiracy.”
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed said, “Whenever any issue arises and the BJP has no answer, they blame the Congress. The people of Ladakh had a state before, and now they are demanding statehood and special status. They’ve been asking for it for a long time, but no one from the BJP is even engaging with them. Instead, the government resorts to accusations of international conspiracies."
Drawing a comparison with past incidents, she added, “We remember what Yogi Adityanath said during the Hathras case that it was an international conspiracy. But when Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi visited the victim’s family, the CBI was brought in, and it concluded that the case was indeed a caste-based crime, not a conspiracy.