Congress behind 1984, 1989 riots, BJP behind 2002: Nitish

The Congress was responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and the 1989 riots in Bhagalpur, while the BJP is to be blamed for the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Tuesday.

"There is no dispute and it is a fact that the Congress was responsible for the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and communal riots in Bhagalpur in Bihar, and the Bharatiya Janata Party was responsible for the Gujarat riots," Nitish Kumar told media persons here.

Nitish Kumar also criticised the likely alliance of the Congress with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party for the Lok Sabha polls.

"Congress lost face in Bihar after the Bhagalpur riots and its decline began then. After the RJD led by Lalu came to power after the riots, he also failed to do anything for the riot victims," the chief minister said.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader said his government set up a commission to conduct a fresh probe into the riots and reopened cases against the accused.

"Dozens of accused were sentenced by the court, thanks to the probe," Nitish Kumar said.

Stressing that the BJP government in Gujarat was solely responsible for the 2002 riots, he said: "It was the failure of the state government to check and control the riots in which hundreds of people were killed."

Nitish Kumar said his party JD-U was likely to ally with the Left parties to fight against the Congress and the BJP-led alliances.