Cong silence over violence in Malda and Fatehpur is shameful: BJP

BJP today attacked Congress accusing it of keeping "shameful silence" over violence in Malda in West Bengal and Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, and condemned Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party ruling these states for engaging in "vote bank politics".

BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma also made a reference to communal violence in Purnea in Bihar and dared Congress to speak up on these issues, alleging that the main opposition party earlier tried to "malign" the image of NDA government at Centre on the issue of "so-called intolerance".

Hitting out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Sharma said he was at the forefront of attacking the Modi government over state issues like Dadri lynching and the murder of rationalist M M Kalaburgi in Karnataka but has kept a silence over the violence in Malda and frequent murders in Bihar.

"The silence of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi is shameful. The silence of all those who were attacking the Central government over the issues like Dadri lynching and Kalaburgi murder is equally shameful.

"We will appreciate if they have guts to comment on what happened in Malda and Fatehpur and also daily murders in Bihar where 'jungle raj' has returned," Sharma said.

"A religious procession on the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti' was attacked in Fatehpur while "anti-national" forces assembled in Malda and torched a police station but there is no protest from them," he added.

The BJP leader alleged, "for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, vote bank politics is above national interest and Akhilesh Yadav government is also trapped in vote bank politics and not taking action against goons."

Accusing Congress leadership and its associates of having tried to "malign" the image of India over the "so called issue of intolerance", Sharma said, "they indulged in baseless charges to target the Central government. It would be good if they had bothered to break their silence over these issues too. They should condemn them as well."

The Akhilesh Yadav government should take strong action against criminals and not be "dictated by vote bank politics," he said.
(Reopens DEL 17)
In Mumbai, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, when asked by reporters about General Rawat's statement, said such remarks will not help restore the trust among the people.

"Can peace return to Kashmir with such statements? BJP should answer this question since it has aligned with PDP which had supported Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack convict who was hanged during the UPA regime," Singh said.