With Assembly elections approaching for several states, war of words between major parties has intensified. In the latest, Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of provoking communal enmity that has led to violent riots in several poll-bound states, including, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Just in the past months or so there have been incidents of communal riots and violence in these states, latest being that in Jodhpur of Rajasthan. The city witnesses communal clashes on Monday on the occasion of Eid and once again on Tuesday, when stone pelting and fire blazes occurred.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala yesterday said that BJP was playing a sinister game of divide and rule and hence was causing riots in poll-bound states. He further said that such communal violence will not be seen in Uttar Pradesh or Uttarakhand, because the elections are over in these states.
Talking to the reporters, Surjewala said BJP wants to people in these states to fight over religion so that they don’t question Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his baseless and unfulfilled promises. If people gripped in riots and violence they are likely to forget about the inflation, unemployment, progress and development. India is facing high inflation and people are struggling to buy basic necessities. The Congress said that if BJP puts communal violence in the front, people will not ask about how the prices of pulses, food items, flour, vegetables, milk and edible oil have risen so much.
Surjewala siad, “They want that Hindus and Muslims should fight so that nobody asks Modi Ji ‘where are the Rs15 lakh in every account that you promised’. They want Hindus and Muslims to fight in election going states so that people do not question them on their promise of 2 crore jobs a year and the 16 crore jobs to be created over eight years of the Modi government.”
Furthermore, Surjewala pointed out that a certain BJP MLA said that the people should not be worried about poor roads and infrastructure as well as the lack of development, but should instead say that they belonged to the Hindu Rashtra. He said, “Hinduism is humanity. Hinduism is compassion. Hinduism is respect for all religions. Hinduism is not a tool for division. Only children of Godse or the successors of Godse can give you such a perverted explanation by disrespecting and dishonoring the tenets of Hinduism.”
