Lalu blames Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah for Muzaffarnagar riots

Patna,(BiharTimes): Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday squarely held the Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, and his lieutenant, Amit Shah, responsible for the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing party workers at a function in the RJD office in the state capital he charged the BJP with polarizing the voters ahead of the coming Lok Sabha election.

Terming the latest developments as dangerous for the social fabric of the country Lalu accused the saffron party of instigating communal violence in a vain bid to ride to power at the Centre.

The RJD chief said that the 2014 Lok Sabha election would be very crucial and its outcome may have grave implications on the unity and integrity of the country if the result goes otherwise.

He minced no words in blaming Amit Shah, BJP leader entrusted with the responsibility of UP, for a series of communal riots. He accused Shah of laying groundwork for communal polarisation to favour Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial ambitions.

The former Railway Minister appealed to the people of all communities and youths to read through the Sangh Parivar’s divisive political design for electoral dividend in the general elections.

But Lalu did not miss the opportunity to attack Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who he said, never condemned Narendra Modi for Gujarat riots of 2002 nor did he resign from the Vajpayee cabinet.

He once again said that the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to dismiss the Modi government, but Nitish’s

Guru, that is, Lal Krishna Advani came to the rescue of the Gujarat CM.

He wondered as to why the man who remained silent throughout the Gujarat riots is speaking against Modi 11 years later when he is being elevated as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP.

Taking Nitish to task for what happened in Nawada, where the shops of Muslims were burnt before the policemen, he said during the 15 year Lalu-Rabri rule no such incident took place. The rioters were dealt with firmly and there was no scope for communal forces to raise their ugly head.

Incidentally, his younger son Tejaswi Pratap also spoke on the occasion and said that the people know as to who between Lalu and Nitish is a secular person. He recalled how his father stopped the Rath Yatra of Advani and got him arrested in Oct 1990. In contrast Nitish had flagged off the BJP patriarch’s Jan Chetna Yatra in Bihar in Oct 2011.