CHENNAI, April 24: The Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) has taken strong exception to the removal of Buta Singh from the Union Ministry early this week, contending that though several other Ministers continued to hold on to their portfolios despite being charge-sheeted for civil and criminal offences, he was singled out and sacked because he belonged to the Scheduled Caste.Accusing the BJP and the AIADMK of pronounced bias against oppressed castes, TMC vice-president K Paramalai said in a statement on Thursday that the sacking of Buta Singh amounted to ``a cunning and victimising act'' that was carried out by a highly-prejudiced BJP leadership.
The BJP leaders yielded to AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha's threats and got rid of Buta Singh in ``an undignified manner.'' The Prime Minister's political adviser Pramod Mahajan reportedly went to Buta Singh's residence and threatened him with dire consequences if he refused to resign in ``10 minutes,'' Paramalai said, adding Buta Singh would be justified infiling a criminal case against Mahajan in this matter.
The BJP has made known ``its bias and contempt'' for Buta Singh by sacking him but leaving aside Union Ministers L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati, ``who were charged with involvement in the criminal offence of demolishing the disputed Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya in 1992.''
In TMC's view, even after the Supreme Court gave its ruling on April 17 in the JMM case, Buta Singh was not charge-sheeted in any criminal offence.The TMC leader said Buta Singh faced with courage the Sikh terrorists in Punjab in 1980s.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
