Bhubaneswar, Jan. 6: Opposition parties today demanded resignation of chief minister Naveen Patnaik following the Supreme Court’s direction to the state government to “protect minorities or quit”.

“The apex court’s verdict was a clear indictment of the state government’s failure to protect the minority community in Kandhamal,” said leader of the Opposition and veteran Congressman J.B. Patnaik. “This government should not continue in power even for a moment in view of the Supreme Court’s observations,” he said.

The former chief minister said the apex court had observed that the state government woke up and started acting, after 15,000 people belonging to the minority community fled to forests following communal riots in Kandhamal. “This was a clear indictment of the government’s failure,” he added.

The fact that the state government had requested the Centre to extend the deployment of central paramilitary forces in Kandhamal clearly indicates that the former has failed to restore permanent peace and is dependent on the central forces for maintenance of law and order, said the veteran leader. In this context, chief minister Naveen Patnaik should resign immediately, as it had failed to protect the minorities, he demanded.

Going a step further, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said Naveen should quit or break the alliance with coalition partner BJP. “After the Supreme Court verdict, there are two alternatives open for the Naveen Patnaik government — it should either resign or get rid of its communal partner which is causing a lot of embarrassment,” Bardhan told reporters here.

Protection of minority is a very important criterion for judging democracy and the BJD-BJP government failed on this front, he added. Asked whether he considers BJD as a communal party, the CPI stalwart replied in negative.