BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday criticised the JD(S)-Congress government of Karnataka for being “busy” with a planned cabinet expansion even as 52 bonded labourers were rescued from Hassan district earlier this week.
Media reports said the victims had been ill-treated for three years. The H.D. Kumaraswamy cabinet is scheduled to be expanded on Saturday.
Shah tweeted, “Shocking that members from Dalit & Tribal communities, were enslaved and made to suffer in the most inhuman conditions, but the Congress-JDS govt is busy with cabinet expansion!..”
Senior state BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje also sought to target the JD(S)-Congress government. In a tweet, Karandlaje claimed the incident happened in the home district of Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and his father, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda.
Karandlaje tweeted, “Right under the nose of the former PM as well as in CM's home district, 52 tribals have been kept as slaves for the last 3 years It is high time for the District Admin to unshakle [sic] itself from the clutches of the 'family' and put the culprits behind bar.”
The 52 people, including children as young as six years, were rescued from a shed in Hassan district. They were forced to do menial jobs and were often tortured, with the women subject to sexual harassment. The authorities were assisted in rescuing the victims by International Justice Mission, an NGO that fights human trafficking. Four people have been arrested.
(With PTI inputs)
