New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday staged a protest at Rajghat against the AAP-led state government, and questioned its "silence" over the death of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA`s son after being allegedly beaten up by some shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar.
"In wake of the murder of a 19-year-old student, Nido Tania, from Arunachal Pradesh, nearly three lakh people from the North-East are now living in fear in Delhi. Neither the state government nor the Centre has any explanation for this," BJP`s Delhi unit president Vijay Goel said.
"There are no facilities for them in Delhi. Recently, two Manipuri women were also ill-treated and beaten up in public. Delhi Government must give an answer to this. It is shifting the responsibility to Delhi Police and the Centre," Goel said.
Raising slogans against the Delhi government, protesters, including activists of BJP`s student and youth wings, asked why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not sitting on a dharna for the community as he had done for "protecting" his Law Minister Somnath Bharti.
Demanding better treatment for the people from North-east in the national capital, senior Delhi BJP leader Harsh Vardhan said, "This is a very serious issue... When our Prime Minister has been a representative from the North-East (Assam) for a decade now, such incidents are happening in the national capital."
"I think the people from the NE, particularly students - young girls and boys - need better treatment... And if the treatment they are receiving is not up to the mark then the law enforcing agencies have to act in a better manner," he said.
Asked whether Delhi Government is trying to shirk off its responsibility, Vardhan said, "This is not a fair attitude on the part of the government to blame police for every thing and try to run away from the responsibility."
Members of BJP Yuva Morcha demanded a helpline number and counselling centre for the community. "There should be a separate commission for the North-East students and a helpline number to look into the problems faced by them. Police should take cases related to NE students on priority basis," said Gaurav Khari, Yuva Morcha`s Delhi president.
