The Congress and the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, (UBT) hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Ram Navami clashes in Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh last week. Both parties accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP of ‘inciting riots… sponsored and targeted violence’ before elections in Opposition-ruled states.
“When the BJP realises it is getting weakened, then they incite riots and polarise people for their own benefit. It is the deed of the BJP.” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told media persons on Monday.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that the BJP is planning and sponsoring riots in the country and has even set up a wing to trigger such riots across India.
“Everyone knows who the rioters are and who is behind the riots in the country. Who sponsored the riots in Hubli? Who is responsible for the riots in Howrah and Maharashtra? The Bharatiya Janata Party has formed a new wing to trigger riots. Their policy seems to be to start riots in the country before the 2024 general elections and then face the elections or postpone the elections,” he said.
He also stated that the Shinde-BJP government in Maharashtra is a very weak government. “That is why riots are being triggered in this place…due to the fear that the BJP will be ousted from power by the people in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Raut said.
In Bengal, the BJP’s state unit has slammed chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Trinamool Congress, alleging engineered violence against ‘Ram bhakts’ and a ‘deteriorating law and order’ situation in the state.
Sukanta Majumdar, the BJP chief in West Bengal, accused Banerjee of ‘ targeting Hindus’.
The ruling Trinamool has handed over probe into Ram Navami clashes in Bengal to the Criminal Investigation Department and has blamed the BJP.
Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told news agency ANI the incidents were ‘pre-planned’. “These people are trying to create unrest in the name of Ram Navami.”
Ram Navami violence in Bihar’s Nalanda and Sasaram districts left one person dead and at least 10 people injured.
Meanwhile, on Sunday evening, in a first joint rally of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, and the Congress, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray lashed out at the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance over right-wing outfits organising ‘Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha’ rallies across Maharashtra.
“Veer Savarkar suffered rigorous imprisonment and hardships for the independence of the country and not to make Modi the prime minister. Will you fulfil Savarkar’s dream of ‘Akhand Bharat’ (Hindu Rashtra)?” he asked.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Congress veterans Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan also addressed the gathering.
Pawar alleged that the recent communal riots were orchestrated to ensure that the MVA rally didn’t take place.
The MVA rally took place just days after Aurangabad, newly-renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, was rocked by clashes during the Ram Navami festivities.