Akalis condemn Vadodara riots, Modi responsible

New Delhi, May 3: The Akali Dal (Amritsar) today alleged that the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat was ''instrumental'' in the demolition of the ''dargah'' at Vadodara as ''it is bent upon continuing with the minority bashing to keep the Hindutva cauldron boiling in the state''.

Party president Simranjit Singh Mann, a former MP, asked as to how the dargah (mazaar) which was more than 200 years old, could now become a hurdle for the municipal corporation which had chosen to dismantle it in broad daylight. And, it also allowed the demolition operation to be broadcast by the electronic media, he added.

''All this was a political exercise, aimed at consolidating the Hindutva forces and to sharpen their distorted perceptions against the minorities of the country,'' the Akali leader said in a statement here.

Mr Mann also lashed out at the ruling Congress at the Centre saying that it had been a mute spectator to the demolition of the mazaar, thereby ''failing to contribute anything concrete towards upholding secularism, riding on which the UPA is now ruling the country''.

In fact, the Akali leader said, ''Both the BJP and Congress have been promoting Hindutva from time to time and has only a shade difference in their approach towards the minorities.'' Mr Mann also had a dig on the BJP's 'Bharat Surakhsha Yatra' saying ''They are asking 'surakhsha' (security) for whom....how can a majority comprising 80 per cent population feel insecure in a country which is proud of its strong armed forces and nuclear capabilities.'' He urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make fool-proof security arrangements for the Gujarat's beleaguered minority which is yet to come out of the trauma of post-Godhra riots of 2002.

UNI