BJP calls PM's visit to Muzaffarnagar secular tourism

The Bharatiya Janata Party Monday said the v isit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi to the violence-hit Muzaffarnagar district is nothing but "secular tourism on communal riots".

"The wounds of the people cannot be healed by doing this. It is completely secular tourism on communal riots and nothing else," BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here.

He said whatever the prime minister has said is of no use, as people want action and not words.

"When (BJP leader) Ravi Shankar Prasad and leaders of other political parties wanted to visit Muzaffarnagar they were stopped, but prime minister, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi can visit," he said.

During a visit to Muzaffarnagar, the prime minister called for punishing the guilty.

Riots broke out in Muzaffarnagar district Sep 7, leaving 48 dead and over 40,000 homeless.