SDPI slams BJP as CBI's closure report terms Paresh Mesta's death 'accidental'

Bengaluru, Oct 4 (IANS) After the CBI termed the Paresh Mesta death "accidental", the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) on Tuesday tore into the BJP and accused it of playing "corpse" politics.

Let BJP apologise and resign from power, asserted SDPI Karnataka State President Abdul Majeed Mysuru.

Soon after Mesta's death, the BJP portrayed it as a murder committed by Muslims and had incited riots and set fire to the entire Karnataka and burnt police vehicles, for which they should resign, he added.

"Any death usually evokes sympathy and compassion. But it was seen as a political opportunity by the fascist BJP which waits for bodies like a vulture," he maintained.

"In 2017, a young man named Paresh Mesta accidentally drowned in a lake and died. As soon as they (BJP leaders) saw the body of a Hindu, the fox-witted BJP jumped into the fray to use it for political gain," he said.

Alleging it to be a murder committed by Muslims, the name of the SDPI party and PFI organisation were dragged into it. It made some innocent Muslim youth go to jail. There was also a large-scale communal riot on that issue, he stated.

All the leaders of the BJP came together to plan and make communal hate speeches against Muslims and incited riots in the entire state, he alleged.

In the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections, Amit Shah was invited to stir public sentiment for political gains. Now the CBI investigation agency which comes under the same BJP government has given the final report that it was an accidental death. If that party has dignity, it should come among the people and answer the violence of that time, he said.

This is just one example of how the communal BJP party gets power by capitalising on Hindu-Muslim hatred, he said and challenged the BJP government, "which is creating such seditious and treasonous schemes if they have any shame, honor, and dignity left, and if they have the courage and strength as they challenge others, they should dissolve the assembly and come before the people and go for elections," he said.

Coming to the Congress party in this regard, he said they demanded a ban on PFI organisation and when it happened, Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar welcomed it, he said.

"But at the time of riots after Mesta's death, the entire state was being burnt and IGP's car was set on fire by the same Siddaramaiah, who was the Chief Minister of the state then and D. K. Shivkumar was a Minister who did not evoke UAPA against the rioters. Why wasn't it done? This just means that both Congress and BJP use the Muslim's agony for their political gains," he stated.

Majeed requested that the people of the state take note of all this and teach these parties a befitting lesson in the next election.