New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah has come down heavily against the Congress after its leader Charan Singh Sapra dared PM Narendra Modi to apologise in Jama Masjid for riots. Congress, Shah said, was raking up riots for “vote consolidation” in Gujarat.
“The entire nation knows that the allegations levelled against Modiji by a Congress-backed NGO were all false and he is spotless. Yet for vote bank consolidation, 2002 is being raised in 2017,” Shah said.
The anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and those in 1992 after the Babri Masjid demolition re-entered the political discourse with Congress’ Sapra saying Sonia Gandhi had apologised in Golden Temple, but Modi was yet to apologise.
“Neither my party nor do I support the 1984 riots. Sonia Gandhi visited Golden Temple and apologised in front of the media. Manmohan Singh also apologised in Parliament. In the last 33 years, the BJP has been adding insult to our injury. Can Narendra Modi visit the Jama Masjid and apologise for the 1992 riots?” the Congress leader from Punjab said at an event organized by News18 India.
Amit Shah retaliated and said that the Congress was raking up the riots to get electoral mileage in Gujarat.
“Congress had laid the foundation of Gujarat election on casteism. The would-be President of Congress started hopping from temple to temple. Congress has been the creator of polarisation in India,” ANI quoted Amit Shah as saying.
While the 1984 riots were triggered by the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguard months after Operation Blue Star, the 1992 riots broke out following the demolition of Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid by ‘kar sevaks’.
Sapra’s comments come amid a heated campaign in Gujarat where the BJP is attempting to retain power for the fifth consecutive term while the Congress is gunning for a revival.
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