Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he was shocked at the violence in Delhi and asked the central and the Delhi governments to work together to prevent any more escalation.
“Shocked and concerned about the Delhi violence. Urge Amit Shah and Arvind Kejriwal to sit together and resolve the crisis immediately to prevent the situation from escalating further in the larger interest of the national capital & the country,” he said.
He told reporters outside the Punjab Assembly earlier in the day that public reaction to the “draconian” citizenship law was “expected” and the anger would only increase if the Centre does not withdraw it.
“The public reaction to the CAA had to be expected since the BJP government at the Centre was trying to destroy India’s cherished constitutional and social fabric through this draconian legislation,” Singh said when queried over the violence in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Singh said the central government “failed to factor in the possible reaction of the people in its plans to impose the CAA, as well as the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register), on the nation”.
“Naturally, there had to be a reaction to the Centre’s attempt to trample over the country’s democratic ideals of socialism and secularism”, he told reporters outside the Punjab Assembly here.
He added that the people’s anger would not end but only grow bigger till the central government realised its “mistake” and withdrew the legislation.
Fresh violence tore through northeast Delhi, killing six more people on Tuesday and taking the toll in the communal clashes over the amended citizenship law to 11.