At a time when the Bharatiya Janata party is constantly under criticism for being violent towards the minorities of the country, a 37-seconds video is widely being circulated on social media. In the video, MP Pratap Simha shares his conversation with Amit Shah, where the latter asked him to do protests which lead to tear gas and lathi-charge from police.
Mr prathap simha an MP of mysore shares his conversation with his chief amith shah ji…is this the way politics is practiced….#justasking pic.twitter.com/933yKViqsV
— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) December 4, 2017
In the video, Pratap Simha says, “Amit Shah had come to Bengaluru and had invited all morchas in the state. He had asked Yuva Morcha members, how many protests they had conducted in the past few days, what was the outcome etc. We detailed the protests we had conducted. He said that Yuva Morcha should hold intense agitations. He had asked, were there any protests where tear gas was fired or police had lathicharged? I told him, “Sir, we haven’t had such protests.” He later asked us to hold such protests, which will lead to lathi-charge and tear gas firing. We promised to conduct such protests in the future.”
MP Pratap Simha was arrested on Saturday for ramming his car through police barricades in Hunsur. He violated Mysuru police’s sanctioned route to take out Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. He was later released on Sunday. Violent clashes erupted when Simha’s followers protested against the arrest of their leader. Section 144 was imposed in the area on Monday.
When the MP was asked about the video, he dismissed it saying that it is just a ‘cut-and-paste’ job. The video drew the ire of many Congress members, including CM Siddaramaiah, who took twitter to express his concerns.
Taking BJP Prez @AmitShah’s advice seriously,Mysuru MP @mepratap is trying to create communal disturbance in Hunsur during Hanuman Jayanthi.
It is our resp to ensure citizens celebrate festivals peacefully. No person,including an MP, will be allowed to take law in his own hands.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 4, 2017
How Ireland reacted to a similar incident
Something similar happened in Ireland last week. Irish Deputy PM Frances Fitzgerald resigned after her alleged support towards “aggressive” treatment of a whistleblower came out in public. She was forced to resign within days because the media held the govt accountable.
She offered her resignation hours before a parliamentary vote that would have led to the collapse of the government in Dublin. Her resignation gave Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar a freer hand to enter critical negotiations on Brexit and also on the Irish border. It is also crucial for the future relationship between the EU and the UK at the summit in December.
The contrasting governance can be seen when the resignation of Ireland’s Dy PM is brought into consideration. When her “aggressive” attitude towards the police whistleblower came in front of the public, she immediately had to resign. When there is a clear evidence in the video that an MP is asking for violence, there is no outrage from the public and even media is not discussing it.
