Rahul Gandhi's remarks about communal conflicts in Uttar Pradesh being "deliberately engineered" has triggered a war of words between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with both accusing each other of indulging in "communal politics".
While the Congress came out in support of Rahul Gandhi and blamed BJP for exploiting the situation for political purposes, BJP targeted Rahul saying it "reflected the party's communal thinking".
"Unfortunately ever since the BJP government has come to office at the centre, there is a growing realisation that the government is interested in keeping communal temperatures towards a degree just below the boiling point so that they can exploit religious polarisation for political purposes," senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said.
"And thus you have a situation in UP whereby, clustered around those 10-12 peaks where by-elections are scheduled, you have a series of incidents taking place. Its incumbent upon the central government to be proactive, to take it up with the state government and to ensure that if there is any communal polarisation anywhere around the country," a serious attempt is made to avert such a situation.
"Unfortunately the perception about the central government is completely opposite," he added.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had reportedly said, "Communal conflict is being artificially and deliberately engineered in our country, especially in Uttar Pradesh. This is a deliberate strategy to divide the poor of this country and pit brother against brother, to prevent people from uniting to fight the true enemy — inequality, poverty and lack of opportunity."
Hitting back, senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said whatever is happening in UP was because of Congress as it took support of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is ruling the state.
"If any party does communal politics, it is Congress. They had alliance with Muslim League. In Hyderabad they had tie up with MIM. Even now, in both the houses of Parliament... by discussing communal situation, their motive is to increase communal tension," Javadekar said while condemning Gandhi's statement.
Javadekar further added,"Rahul's statement should not be given so much importance. Narendra Modi has already said one has to decide whether one would fight against poverty or Hindus and Muslims will fight against each other. The vision is to take everybody together."
"But Congress' thinking is totally communal and I condemn his statement because their communal thinking comes out of that," he said.
Meanwhile coming to the defence of Rahul Gandhi, while some Congress leaders said that there are "multiple elements" in UP who are spreading rumours with an aim to charge the atmosphere, others maintained that there is an attempt to create conflict between people and UP is being pushed into "pyre of politics."
"Rahul's comment is right. There are multiple elements in UP which are continuously attempting to spread rumours with an aim of continually charging the atmosphere. These occurrences are a major cause of worry not just for UP but for the entire country," senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad said.
"The entire country is aware of the hate politics prevalent in UP. There is an attempt to create conflict between people as seen in Muzzafarnagar, Moradabad and Saharanpur. UP is being pushed into pyre of politics," yet another Congress leader Rashid Alvi said.
Rallying behind the Congress Vice President's comment, Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that her party does not believe in any politics which is "divisive" and Congress believes in "inclusive" politics. "What Rahul Gandhi has said is absolutely true. The Congress party does not believe in any politics which is divisive. We believe in inclusive politics," she said.
"The entire nation knows that ever since the BJP government has come to power at centre, how they been trying to create communal divide in UP," she said citing the examples of Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad and Meerut where "smallest incidents like conflict between two people, were exploded into communal issue by the BJP."
"They are power seekers. Narendra Modi, his company and the Sangh Parivar shot to power through divisive politics. They should give the promise of growth to people instead of giving people Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad and Meerut. Its not about Rahul Gandhi finding a voice now. Rahul has a very strong voice and he is a leader and we are proud of him in the Congress party," she said.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi's communal remarks will cause problems for the Congress, warns BJP
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