Shah's 'firecrackers' in Pak remark condemned, Cong, JDU

BJP chief Amit Shah's "firecrackers in Pakistan" remark was condemned by opposition parties as "inflammatory" with JD(U) and Congress complaining to the EC and demanding ban on his entry in Bihar till poll process is over and RJD leader Lalu Prasad calling him "mad".
At an election rally in Raxaul in Bihar yesterday, Shah said there will be bursting of firecrackers in Pakistan if BJP loses the assembly elections.
"A case should be registered against him(Shah) and he should be debarred from entering Bihar till the poll process is over. He is a habitual conspirator. He was earlier also debarred from entering Gujarat by the court," JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said, adding, "Shah's remarks are inflammatory."

Tyagi was part of a delegation that included Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala which met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi in Delhi and submitted a memorandum, accusing the BJP of "vitiating" the electoral process by "promoting communal tension".
"The RSS and BJP are trying to polarise the nation and create an atmosphere like during the 1947 days," Tyagi said.
Surjewala slammed Shah for trying to question the patriotism of Bihar's nearly 10 crore population.

Lalu Prasad said Shah's remark was an "insult" to the people of the state.
"This man (Amit Shah) has become mad out of disappointment from polling so far against NDA and this is why is making such provocative remarks to communalise the voting," Prasad told told reporters in Patna.

Prasad alleged that the BJP chief was trying to inject "poison of communalism" in the next two phases of polling in which population of the minority community is sizeable in the majority of constituencies.
The RJD chief said Shah's objectionable comment was an affront to the citizens of the state, particularly backwards, EBC, dalits and minorities, who he claimed, are "firmly rooting for the grand secular alliance".
"Will you fight elections in a state invoking your relations with some other country? This shows the BJP can go to any extent to win elections," JD(U)President Sharad Yadav told PTI.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury demanded that the EC take action against Shah and charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president with "patronising and leading" communal forces.

Yechury said Shah's remarks were a "clear violation" of the model code of conduct for elections and underscored BJP's "extreme desperation and frustration" as he predicted a "Delhi-like" debacle for the NDA in Bihar Assembly election.
With its president coming under attack, BJP said Shah's comments aren't unfounded and that the message sought to be conveyed was that who are soft with terror, they are going to be definitely playing in the hands of Pakistan.
"Amit Shahji's comments aren't unfounded. Two years back, Yasin Bhatkal was arrested. He is the co-founder of Indian Mujahideen. At the same time Nitish Kumar didn't want to take Yasin Bhatkal in his custody.

"Kumar didn't want to show the arrest has happened in Bihar. Now what kind of politics is this? Isn't this trying to play a votebank politics? Soft on terror. So, therefore this comment has come that don't vote for those who are soft on terror because they become anti-nationalists. Vote for a nationalist party like the BJP because it will strengthen the fight against terrorism.
And obviously those who are soft with terror, they are going to be definitely playing in the hands of Pakistan," BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said.