Opposition calls for action, says stop giving 'sanctimonious' speeches

The opposition parties on Monday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA over rising incidents of intolerance, saying the ruling government at the Centre should act rather than just condemning the recent acts by extremist groups.

Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement condemning the acts of intolerance was made keeping the Bihar Assembly polls in mind.

"The recent statements by the ruling party were made by keeping the election campaigns in mind. The BJP president's statement and the Finance Minister's statement were limited to this. Even today, the Finance Minister condemned the violent protests taking place, but the government should go beyond it and take action," Sharma told mediapersons here.

"The perpetrators are being protected because they are the part of their organisation. If the government is serious about it then they should act against these people," he added.

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury echoing similar sentiments questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's studded silence on the issue.

"It is a very strange statement by the Finance Minister. He says that it is very disturbing that people are using violence or force to establish their point of view. Did he forget that they are the government? There is law of the land under which giving such inciting speeches that will disturb communal amity in the country is a penal offence. Why is action not being taken by this government?" Yechury told ANI.

"The Prime Minister tweets on everything under the sun, but on this why has he kept quite... By not acting clearly, they are patronising these forces. That is the basic point, stop giving sanctimonious speeches, stop preaching, act and implement the law of the land," he added.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier today said that incidents of intolerance would not be tolerated. He also expressed concern over the recent acts of vandalism and said that there is no place for violence in democracy.