BJP calls Opposition joint appeal over communal violence attempt to 'incite vote bank'

Slamming the Opposition for their joint statement expressing concern over communal violence, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Monday said the Opposition parties are running a false narrative for vote bank politics and trying to disrupt the social fabric of the country.

Briefing the mediapersons, Bhatia said, "India has also undergone a big political change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a new kind of politics that connects everyone in society. The work is being done to bring the weaker section to the mainstream."

Bhatia said earlier it was only vote bank politics that used to divide the society but the BJP government brought the politics of integrating the society.

"Earlier, the opposition, especially the Congress broke the society on the basis of religion and caste. Now the common citizen looks toward the government. The Modi government is sincerely dedicated to the people. Now to change the narrative, the Opposition is trying to spoil the harmony in the society," he said.

"The false appeal was not made by Sonia Gandhi with false intentions to incite her vote bank and to break the social fabric of the country. It was not made to maintain social harmony. If there was even a bit of honesty in this appeal of the opposition, then first of all Congress would have told its CM in the Congress-ruled state not to look at religion in punishing criminals. The people want to ask the Congress government in Rajasthan why is it so compulsive and helpless in Karauli case," added the BJP leader.

Notably, several incidents of violence were reported from various parts of the country during the Ram Navami procession last week.

Expressing deep concern over the "growing incidents of hate speech and recent outburst of communal violence" in the country, leaders of 13 Opposition parties in a joint statement on Saturday urged people to maintain peace and harmony while demanding stringent punishment against the perpetrators of communal violence.

Sonia Gandhi (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), M K Stalin (DMK), CPI (M)'s Sitaram Yechury, Farooq Abdullah (NC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), D Raja (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc), Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP), PK Kunhalikutty (IUML), and CPI (ML)'s Dipanker Bhattacharya issued the joint statement on Saturday.

The 13 leaders alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been silent on the spate of communal violence and said that he has "failed to speak against the words and actions of those who propagate bigotry and those who, by their words and actions, incite and provoke our society."

( With inputs from ANI )

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