Akhlaq died in SP-ruled state, Kalburgi in Cong-ruled :BJP

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Tuesday fired back at Congress for blaming the Modi government for the rise in incidents of intolerance, saying the opposition party had resorted to shameful propaganda to cover up its growing irrelevance.Talking to reporters, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the Congress had glossed over the fact that almost all the incidents which it has blamed upon the Modi government had actually happened in the jurisdiction of governments belonging to other parties. Trivedi also said that far worse things happened on Congress's watch in the past as he accused the opposition party of resorting to propaganda and spreading falsehoods."The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq happened in UP which is under Samajwadi Party, while rationalist writer M M Kalburgi lost his life in Karnataka where Congress is in power. Earlier, another rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was killed in Maharashtra when it was being ruled by the Congress-NCP coalition. Yet, all these incidents have been lumped to support the calumny that Modi government is responsible for such crimes," Trivedi said.He also said the Congress needed to ponder its track record before pointing fingers at the BJP government. "Their regime saw the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 -- the worst-ever



carnage in the Capital since it was ravaged by Iranian raider Nadir Shah. They also failed to save Kashmiri Pandits from being killed and being forced to leave their home in what was a case of sheer ethnic cleansing. Yet, they have the gall to blame others," the BJP spokesperson said.Trivedi also drew attention to the remarks of finance minister Arun Jaitley earlier in the day where the latter confirmed that some BJP figures, including two central ministers, were put on notice by BJP chief Amit Shah for making provocative statements. "This belies the allegation that we are not serious about controlling tension," he said, adding that Congress was spreading lies since it wanted to avenge its rout in the Lok Sabha polls.
He said while the Modi government sent an advisory to the UP government after the lynching in Dadri on suspicions of beef eating, Muzaffarnagar had failed to stir the UPA regime.Asked about a number of violent protests by BJP ally Shiv Sena, he said his party had made it clear that it did not agree with Sena's methods and condemned these incidents.While BJP took action against its leaders for their controversial remarks, SP and Congress never acted against Azam Khan and Digvijay Singh for their objectionable statements, Trivedi said.