Intelligence failure to blame for Red Fort violence: Adhir

Leader of the Congress in LokSabha Adhir Chowdhury claimed on Thursday that intelligencefailure on the part of the Delhi Police was to blame forthe chaos and violence at Red Fort on January 26.

He also cast doubt on the Centre's intention, statingthat the Union government probably did not do much to avertviolence as it ''might have wanted to take advantage of thesituation''.

Thousands of farmers, protesting against the newagricultural laws, had clashed with the police on January 26.

Many of them, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort andscaled the walls of the monument.

Some even hoisted flags on the domes and placed theflagstaff at the ramparts of the monument, where the nationalflag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

Speaking to reporters here, Chowdhury said that theDelhi Police had given designated routes to the farmers totake out the tractor parade.

''But the farmers took different routes and a sectionof them breached the Red Fort. Surely, it was due tointelligence failure on the part of Delhi Police and otheragencies,'' he said at the state Congress headquarters.

Accusing the BJP of branding any and every issueraised against the saffron party as ''anti-national, Pakistanior Khalistani'', Chowdhury, who is also the West BengalCongress president, further said, ''At times I feel that thecentral government deliberately allowed this (January 26incident) to happen to take advantage of the situation.'' PTIDCRMS RMS