The Hindu : BJYM flays Govt.'s inaction

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

BJYM flays Govt.'s inaction

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD SEPT 24. The BJYM national president, G. Kishan Reddy, launched a sharp attack on the State Government for what he called laxity in punishing officials responsible for issuing fake passports to underworld don, Abu Salem, and his two wives, Monica Bedi and Sabeena Azmi.

He wanted the Government to take `merciless' action on police officers who had failed to act after the Regional Passport Office revoked the passports in March and tipped off the police about the fake documents.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Mr. Kishan Reddy said even the Central Intelligence Bureau alerted the State police about the fake passports of Salem and his gang but no action was taken.

A report submitted by the then SP of Kurnool, P. S. R. Anjaneyulu, was "suppressed'' in the DGP's office.

A heavy price had been paid for this failure as Hamid the passport agent, had escaped to Karnataka after getting fake passports for 11 persons. It was not known how many of them had managed to slip out of the country.

Mr. Reddy said it was amazing that the head constable, Sattar, who colluded with Hamid in falsifying the documents of Abu Salem and his gang had been promoted to the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector on May 24. The police must explain whether this was a goof-up or an attempt to shield its men.

The BJYM chief wondered how the State police could be so complacent when the IB and the FBI were trying to arrest Salem. In fact, the Centre had even established the mafia don's connections with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

He ridiculed the statement of the Home Minister, T. Devender Goud, that the Centre must share a part of the passport fee collected with the State to meet the expenditure on verification of the applicants' antecedents. This was nothing but an attempt to dilute the case and shield the guilty officials.

Mr. Kishan Reddy announced that the party would launch a nation-wide membership enrolment drive from September 25 to coincide with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya's birth anniversary. The BJP is aiming to increase its present membership of three crores by 20 per cent.

A feature of the membership drive would be to attract rural youth, including those from the minority community, and increase the ratio of ordinary members below 40 years of age to 70 per cent. The drive will be part of the BJP's `march to villages' programme which will continue till December.

The BJYM leader said he would visit Gujarat next week to participate in Narendra Modi's `gaurav rath yatra'. He claimed that Mr. Modi's controversial `hum paanch, hamare pachees' statement was not directed against the minorities.

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