New Delhi: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday asserted that no life was lost during students’ protests over the NEET paper leaks, but many were killed in police firing during Congress governments.
Listing 11 incidents when the administration under the Congress rule used force, resulting in the deaths of civilians, he said the Indian Air Force was used to bomb Indian citizens in Mizoram in the 60s, while 369 people, mostly students, died during the Telangana movement in 1969 in police firing.
Referring to the Turkman Gate demolition and police firing in Delhi during the Emergency in 1976, Rijiju, on X, said that a mystery surrounds the actual deaths which took place then, even though police claimed there were six casualties.
The police officer who issued the firing order said the death toll stood at 20 or more, he claimed.
“Life & security of the citizens should be top priority for the Govt. No life was lost during the students protest on NEET Exam paper leaks despite many criminals tried to take advantage,” he said.
His response came to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments that ministers of the Modi government were saying that “the Delhi Police should be praised” at a time when half a kilometre from Parliament, pellet guns were fired at peaceful students.
Gandhi said, “I myself have met those injured children. The fundamental mantra of this government is untruth and violence. First, beat the children with lathis, then claim that nothing happened at all.”
Rijiju, the Minorities and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, in his rejoinder said that police opened fire on people protesting against forced sterilisation in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar on October 18, 1976.
Various historical accounts report a substantial number of casualties, with some sources putting the death toll at around 50, he claimed.
Rijiju said during Punjab’s Moga agitation over alleged black marketing of cinema tickets in 1972, police opened fire, resulting in the deaths of four people, including students and passers-by.
Referring to the students-led Nav Nirman movement of Gujarat of 1973–74, the minister said accounts of the movement cite 103 deaths, with 88 attributed to police firing.
During the Multai farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh in 1998, police opened fire on farmers, and the initial reports put the number of deaths at 17, while subsequent accounts put the eventual death toll at 24 farmers, with more than 100 people injured, he said.
Rijiju said that during the Mudigonda land agitation in Andhra Pradesh in 2007, reports pegged the death count in police firing at eight and those who were injured at 16.
In the Sompeta firing (in Andhra Pradesh) in 2010, two fishermen were killed in police firing, while around 100 people were injured, he said.
In the Kakarapalli firing incident in Andhra Pradesh in 2011, the minister said, reports suggested that two people were killed and several others injured in the police firing.
A fact-finding report said that both rubber bullets and live ammunition were used in the southern state 15 years ago, he said.
Rijiju mentioned the firing incident in Maharashtra in 2011 during a protest against the Jaitapur nuclear power project.
On April 18, 2011, police opened fire, killing one protester, Tabrez Sayekar, also reported as Tavrez Sejkar.
“There were many more police firing cases during Congress. These incidents provide a chronological record of major protest movements and agitations in which deaths occurred in police firing or related police action while Congress governments were in power. Our govt has been showing maximum restrain in all agitations,” Rijiju said.
