Congress President Sonia Gandhi has alleged that since the BJP came to power at the Centre, there has been an alarming increase in the number of cases of communal violence. Addressing MPs at the Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi today, she said Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Mahrashtra and a number of other States have witnessed hundreds of incidents of communal violence and of late, there have been dangerous signals of intolerance. She asked the party MPs to fight the BJP's politics of division and hatred and resist its authoritarian and sectarian tendencies. Mrs Gandhi accused BJP-led NDA government of imitating and extending UPA's programmes and initiatives it had vehemently attacked previously. Stating that prices of items of daily use are rising hurting the common man, she said the government is trying to disguise its failures to improve the economy by blaming the UPA government. She said the government has nothing new to offer to the people. The Congress President said the new government's motto appears to be minimum governance to protect the aam aadmi and maximum government to amass powers in the hands of the BJP.
Sonia Gandhi said the process of restoring the confidence of public has begun and her party will fight with full might to revive itself. She asked Congress MPs to work to strengthen grassroots connections with voters. Mrs Gandhi said the party's spirit is not down though its numbers have reduced in the Lok Sabha. Prominent among those who attended the meeting included former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Karan Singh. NCP leader D P Tripathi said communal clashes and violence across the country have increased after the formation of new government. He said that there has been spurt in violent incidents in those states where election is round the corner.
Meanwhile Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla accused the Congress of inaction in stopping communal violence during its regime. She alleged that there have been thousands of riots under Congress rule and asked it to give an account of that before demanding discussion on others.
Meanwhile, in Parliament the government today said it is ready for discussion onthe increasing incidents of communal violence in the country. As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress raised the issue saying that the House take up the discussion on priority basis. He said the discussion on the subject is being delayed though it was listed in the business for the last few days. Responding to this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the discussion on the matter under Rule 193 will be taken up after disposal of important legislations. The minister this is an important issue concerning all. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan assured the House that the subject will be taken up today.
Meanhile, members belonging to RJD and Samajwadi Party trooped into the well of the House demanding abolition of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).
