Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who also heads the Minority Affairs department, was quick to condemn the Congress for wearing a mask of secularism while practising communalism.
Lashing out at the Congress, the BJP described Khurshid's statement that his party had blood on its hands as an "acknowledgement" of its history of "engineering communal riots", and said it continued to practise the same politics of creating division and tensions to get votes.
Veteran Congress baiter, Subramaniam Swamy asked the Congress to atone for the sins perpetrated when it was in power.
Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who also heads the Minority Affairs department, was quick to condemn the Congress for wearing a mask of secularism while practising communalism. People wanted Congress to accept the truth and come clean after Khurshid made his "individual confession", Naqvi said.
He cited a number of major riots — in Bhiwandi, Bhagalpur and Malegaon, UP and Bihar — that occurred when the Congress was in power. Naqvi said more than 50,000 such violent incidents happened under Congress governments in which thousands of innocent people were killed. He also mentioned the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
"The Congress is a history-sheeter as far as communal riots are concerned," he said. "It has practised politics of divide-and-rule while using caste and communities to sow division in society. It created social tensions for votes. It continues with this tradition," he said.
BJP leader Sambit Patra added to the conversation, saying, "Salman Khurshid has revealed the truth behind Rahul Gandhi's 'Save the Constitution' campaign. He has admitted that Congress' hand is stained with blood. It is not only stained with the blood of Muslims but also of the Sikhs killed in 1984."
Put on the spot, the Congress immediately distanced itself from Khurshid.
"Congress disagrees with the statement of Mr. Salman Khurshid in total," said Congress leader P L Punia, adding, "Everyone must know that both prior and post Independence, Congress is the only party that has worked towards building an egalitarian society by carrying all sections of people together as also religious and ethnic minorities."
Not willing to give further field to the BJP to play on, other senior Congress leaders maintained a stoic silence.
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