Government trying to polarise voters, sideline minorities: Congress

Kharge claimed that according to government data, 113 incidents of communal violence occured in May and June after the BJP-led NDA government was sworn in

Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, Wednesday said there was an attempt to polarise voters in states and regions where assembly elections are to be held and that the government was pursuing a policy to stifle the voice of the minorities.

"There is an ongoing attempt to suppress the minorities in the country, so that they disassociate themselves from mainstream politics," Kharge said in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the bill against communal violence.

He said in whichever states elections were approaching, there was an increase in communal violence.

"There are riots taking place in states which are to go for elections or by-polls. In Uttar Pradesh, more than 600 incidents of communal violence were orchestrated to polarise the voters," Kharge maintained.

He claimed that according to government data, 113 incidents of communal violence occured in May and June after the BJP-led NDA government was sworn in.

"The government is taking these developments lightly. In order to create vote bank, the politics of polarisation is going on," Kharge said.