Godhra tragedy was a Modi govt failure: Nitish

Kumar, then the Union railways minister, absolved himself of all responsibility for death of 58 Sabarmati Express passengers

The rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) deepened on Tuesday, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying the 2002 Godhra train tragedy, which triggered communal riots in Gujarat, had resulted from the state government's failure in maintaining law and order.

Kumar, then the Union railways minister, absolved himself of all responsibility for the death of the 58 Sabarmati Express passengers. "Only in the case of accidents, collisions and derailments can one put the blame on the railway ministry… That incident (the Godhra train burning) was a failure of the law and order, for which the state government is responsible," Kumar said.

In 2002, Narendra Modi was the Gujarat CM. The train tragedy had incited communal riots in the state; about 1,000 people were killed.

"The matter was raised in Parliament on the very same day, though in a very light manner. However, I gave an elaborate reply on this matter which covered all the aspects of the incident," Kumar said, refusing to answer questions related to the current spat between his party and BJP.

On Sunday, Kumar had repeatedly jabbed at Modi, widely seen as National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections. "The prime ministerial candidate of the NDA has to understand the psyche of the people of a diverse multi-religious and multilingual country like India. He should follow the raj dharma," Kumar had said.

This left BJP seething. "We reject all unfounded interferences against Narendra Modi," said party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.

Later, BJP pointed to the fact that Kumar was heading the railways when the train burning took place.