By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 20 Aug 2015: The central government of Bharatiya Janata Party is facing flak over dismissal of Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt from the services. Bhatt had taken on the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots.
Digvijay Singh, General Secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC), has condemned his dismissal by the Union Home Ministry and urged people to support 1988 batch IPS officer Bhatt.
“Gujarat Model of Governance has begun. Sanjeev Bhat dismissed. Strongly condemn it. All opposed to Fascism must collectively support Sanjeev,” tweeted Singh.
Bhatt, 51, was earlier suspended by Gujarat government on charges of unauthorized absence of duty, non-appearance before a departmental panel and alleged misuse of official vehicle on August 2011 when he had filed an affidavit in Supreme Court accusing Modi’s involvement in the riots in Gujarat.
Bhatt had joined the Indian Police Service when he was only 24.
Calling the dismissal as the silencing of the dissenters, SQR Ilyas, President, Welfare Party of India, said “the punitive action showed that sincerity and upholding constitutional obligations and official responsibilities are not welcome in Modi era. The BJP led Modi government is afraid of transparency and dissenting voices against its corporate friendly and communal policies”.
“That is why it is hunting Greenpeace and their chief campaigner Priya Pillai, Teesta and her husband Javed. If unchecked and controlled this will be the fate to happen for all. Hence it is need of the hour that all secular-democratic forces come together and resist the central government’s fascist policies and anti-democratic actions. The central government must immediately roll back termination of Sanjeev Bhatt,” Ilyas said in a media statement.
Senior journalist and author N. Jayaram took the dismissal in a larger perspective and combined it with some other controversial decisions that PM Modi has taken after coming to power at the centre. “Obviously, it is of a piece with all that is happening since the advent of Modi Raj: the hounding of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, the blitz on Greenpeace and other NGOs, bail for Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, going soft on other Hindu terrorists such as Aseemanand, rehabilitation of officers accused of having had a hand in fomenting the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat and subsequent extra-judicial killings, the largesses being given to big businesses and the atrocities on Adivasis, to name but a few”.
CPI-ML (Liberation) Politburo member Kavita Krishnan also related Bhatt’s sacking to the Modi government. Taking a dig at Modi, Krishnan said: “Just as Teesta Setalvad is being targeted, so is Sanjiv Bhatt, for daring to speak truth about Modi’s role in ordering the Gujarat 2002 massacre. Cops who are whistle blowers like Bhatt are being victimised while cops who killed and snooped and covered up for Modi and Shah are getting bail and even being promoted to the CBI top posts.”
