Violence during tractor rally has stained farm protest: Raut

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday condemned the violence during a tractor rally taken out by farmers in Delhi as national shame which stained their protest against the new agri laws but said the Centre, too, will have to take responsibility for the developments.

Interacting with media persons here, Raut said it is the arrogance of the central government which has led to the deteriorating situation in Delhi and asked it to introspect as to why the law and order in the national capital collapsed.

Raut said resignations would have been demanded had such violence erupted on some other party watch at the Centre.

For latest updates on farmers' protest, click here

A tractor march meant to highlight farmers' demands dissolved into anarchy on the streets of Delhi on Tuesday as hordes of rampaging protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult -- hoisting a religious flag from the rampart of Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India's tricolour.

Without naming the BJP, he asked whose resignation the ruling party will now seek and sarcastically said if it will pitch for US President Joe Biden, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi or Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to step down after the violence.

What happened in Delhi, what I am seeing, I call it a national shame, Raut said.

The Rajya Sabha member said that the violence on the streets of the national capital does not behove the protesters and the government.

The Shiv Sena leader said that the farmers protested peacefully till now near Delhi borders and wondered what happened suddenly that the demonstrators lost their patience.

It is a question why the anarchy spread and what was the government doing? Was the government waiting for this incident or this day?

It was the responsibility of the government to resolve the issue and stop the tractor rally if the government knew that the farmers may lose their patience, Raut said.

Such a black day would not have dawned had the government tried to understand the sentiments of farmers in time and withdrawn the new laws, Raut added.

The Shiv Sena MP asked if it is some conspiracy that anarchy spreads on the streets of Delhi and that Punjab loses its peace.

The Shiv Sena condemns what happened at the Red Fort. This should not have happened today. I agree this has stained the farmers' protest.

But it is not only one party which is responsible for it. The government, too, will have to take responsibility for it, he added.

Without naming the BJP, a former Sena ally, Raut said in the wake of violence, the NDA lead constituent would have demanded resignations had some other party been in power at the Centre.

Now whose resignation those in power and leaders of the ruling party will demand for the collapsing of law and order in Delhi? Will they ask for Pawar sahabs resignation for today's incident? Or Mamata Banerjee (Bengal CM) or Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray or Joe Bidens? he asked.

Raut said the situation in the country can deteriorate due to the prevailing atmosphere in Delhi and asked the government to bring it under control immediately.

The government should accept the demands of farmers (of scrapping the new laws). But you want the situation in the country to deteriorate.

"You dont want peace to prevail. You want to deliberately create an Emergency-like atmosphere, he alleged.

To a question about the agitating farmers earlier assuring the Delhi Police that there would be no violence during the tractor rally, Raut said Uttar Pradesh cops were given similar promises before the Babri Mosque was demolished (in Ayodhya in December 1992).

We all had assured the police when the Babri Mosque was demolished in Ayodhya. It was an intelligence failure then (during Babri Mosque demolition), too, and it is an intelligence failure here (now), too, Raut said.