New Delhi: There seems to be no end to political blame game on the Madhya Pradesh stampede which took 115 lives on Sunday. With elections scheduled later in November, the Congress doesn't want to let go any opportunity in targeting the BJP government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The Congress has asked Chouhan to take responsibility for the tragedy and resign. "The MP government is morally responsible. The Chief Minister must quit," Congress leader Ajay Maken said.
"When the BJP holds a Mahakumbh with its party workers then the Madhya Pradesh government deploys hundreds of policemen. However, there was very little police presence at the Ratangarh temple. The incident indicates the poor governance and the corruption of the Madhya Pradesh government," he added.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh too took a dig at the ruling BJP government. He twitted, "Reason for Ratangarh Mata disaster? Police was charging Rs 200 from each tractor and allowing in no traffic zone. Good Governance in MP?"
The Left too hit out at the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. "The Madhya Pradesh government did not learn its lessons from the previous tragedies. Had it learn lessons and taken precautions to not let such tragedies occur again and again," CPI leader D Raja said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also spoke in unison with the other parties in blaming the state government for the mishap. "Such incidents occur only when the state governments fail to take the necessary precautions," NCP leader Tariq Anwar said.
Meanwhile, the BJP asked the Opposition not to make it a political matter. Chouhan tweeted, "Politics on any tragedy is unwanted. The focus should be on attending to the injured & take steps to avoid any such incidents in the future."
The Home Minister of the State compared the incident with the Uttarakhand tragedy. "The Congress does not have any issue to take to the people. They are playing politics over a tragedy. A similar tragedy happened in Uttrakhand. Was the Congress government responsible for that?" Uma Shankar Gupta said.
Rumours abound about police lathicharge on the devotees led to the stampede.
However, police dismissed any such claims. Police officials said a rumour of the bridge collapsing sparked the stampede while some eyewitnesses blamed it on a police lathicharge
The stampede on the bridge over river Sindh took place on Sunday at the Ratangarh temple in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh. At least 30 of those dead in the tragedy are children.
The Madhya Pradesh government does not seem to have learnt anything from the past tragedies. Over 50 pilgrims were washed away at this very spot in 2006 and the bridge on which this stampede started was built thereafter.
"Extremely sorry to hear about the Ratangarh Mata Mandir disaster in Datia Dist in MP. Pay homage to the dead. Similar disaster in 2006 also," Digvijaya Singh had tweeted after the tragedy.
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