PATNA -- Senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad today slammed BJP leaders for "creating fear" in the mind of minorities by making provocative statements after the Dadri incident and in an apparent dig at the Prime Minister, he said such comments were not possible without the "blessings of their leadership."
"BJP is responsible for creating an atmosphere in which minorities are feeling scared," Azad told reporters reacting to the statements of several BJP and RSS leaders after Dadri incident.
"This would not have been possible without the blessings of their leadership," he said apparently referring to PM Narendra Modi.
Azad, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, referred to the statement of Union Culture minister Mahesh Sharma that justice would be done to both Mohammad Ikhlaq's family and those who killed him.
"This reflects the rotten mindset of the people sitting in the power and that too from the Culture minister whose job is to preserve and protect the culture and harmony. The minister should have rather said that those who killed will be punished but he said that justice will be done even to the accused," he said.
On Friday, Sharma had said that Justice will be served for everyone - the family and also for the youths under arrest.
"I hold BJP leadership more responsible for creating such an environment of fear and scare than those people who killed Mohammad Ikhlaq," the Congress leader said, adding that the minorities were feeling scared ever since NDA formed the government in the country.
"Senior leaders, office-bearers, MPs and BJP ministers frequently make statements which pitch one religion against another...No one takes any action against such utterances.
This shows that they (those who make such statements) have the backing of their (BJP) leadership," he said.
Accompanied by Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary, Azad said it was the RSS which was running both the central and BJP ruled state governments.
"Chief ministers, ministers, officials - everyone is listening to the diktats of RSS," Azad alleged.
When asked to comment on Lalu Prasad's beef statement, he said Prasad had already made it clear that beef did not mean 'gomans' (cattle meat).
Asked why Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were not sharing platform with Lalu Prasad at election rallies, Azad said "there is no time for leaders to participate in each others' programme (election rallies)".
"Congress had alliance with National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, but during elections we never had joint meetings," he said.
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