Congress has blamed the BJP for the simmering tension in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and defended the Samajwadi Party Government over police action, saying there was no other option but to take law and order measures.
AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of remaining ‘silent’ while the ruling BJP practices ‘divisive politics’. Questioning the decision of BJP leaders led by Sardhana MlA Sangeet Som, who is an accused in Muzaffarnagar riots, to hold a ‘Mahapanchayat’ in the area, Singhvi said Som was doing it for “purely electoral purposes”.
“Can the country not run without the Mahapanchayat being heldIJ It is like adding fire to the tinderbox. This shows the divisive agenda of the BJP. Modi went in silence and no senior BJP leader condemns it. Sangeet Som is doing it for purely election purpose. What option does one have except to take law and order action to stop such kind of conflagration, provocation and incitement,” he said.
Violent protests broke out in Kanth area of Moradabad on Friday over holding a ‘mahapanchayat’ during which BJP leaders, including four MPs and MlA Som, were detained. The ‘mahapanchayat’ was called by the State BJP in defiance of the State order, after a recent tension in Kanth, over removal of a loudspeaker from a temple.