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‘Sowing seed of hatred': BJP slams Congress after opposition questions PM's 'silence'
In a joint statement statement, opposition leaders expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of hate speech and communal violence in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress of "sowing the seed of hatred" after leaders of 13 Opposition parties on Saturday expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of hate speech and communal violence in the country, and urged people to maintain peace and harmony.
"These allegations are baseless. Opposition parties are sowing the seed of hatred in the country, this is not acceptable. Sonia Gandhi should look at violence cases in Rajasthan and how their government has failed to take action against the rioters," news agency ANI quoted Union minister Anurag Thakur as saying.
Thakur alleged targetted the opposition for allegedly not speaking out when the violence took place in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. "There have been several incidents of violence in the states ruled by the opposition. In the last year, more than 60 such incidents took place in Rajasthan, Thakur added.
In a joint statement, the leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and her Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand counterparts MK Stalin and Hemant Soren, also raised concern over the manner in which issues relating to food, dress, faith, festivals and language "are being deliberately used by the ruling establishment to polarise society".
They also demanded stringent punishment for the perpetrators of communal violence in the country.
"We are shocked at the silence of the prime minister, who has failed to speak against the words and actions of those who propagate bigotry and those who, by their words and actions, incite and provoke our society," they said in the joint statement.
"This silence is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage."
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia questioned why the main accused of Karauli violence in Rajasthan has not been arrested yet.
"Today all opposition parties, including the Congress, have given a joint appeal but, this appeal is as fake as the intentions of Congress and opposition. Today, people are asking you, why the main accused of Karauli violence has not been arrested even after 14 days," Bhatia said.
Praising Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for taking prompt action against the accused in the Khargone city violence case.
"The Congress is in power in Rajasthan, but no action has been taken, whereas, in MP, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken strict action against the accused. It is very sad that even though you are in the opposition, still do the work of inciting fire," he said.
Incidents of communal violence were reported from some parts of the country on the occasion of Ram Navami on April 10. There have also been sharp divisions over the Hijab row in Karnataka and some other parts of the country and violence on the JNU campus over serving of non-veg food in the hostel mess on Ram Navami.
"We are extremely anguished at the manner in which issues related to food, dress, faith, festivals and language are being deliberately used by sections of the ruling establishment to polarize our society," the statement said.
"We are extremely concerned with the growing incidents of hate speech in the country by people, who appear to have official patronage and against whom no meaningful and strong action is being taken," they said in their joint statement.
Signatories to the joint statement also include Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja, All India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, Revolutionary Socialist Party general secretary Manoj Bhattacharya, IUML general secretary P K Kunhalikutty, and Communist Party of India(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipanker Bhattacharya.
