Rising incidents of intolerance in opposition ruled states:BJP

New Delhi, Oct 20: BJP today hit back at Congress after it attacked the Centre over rising intolerance, saying the incidents happened in the states ruled by the opposition party and its allies and accused it of resorting to propaganda to take revenge for its "shameful" defeat in Lok Sabha polls.

After senior Congress leader Anand Sharma accused the Modi government of failing to take action against the forces spreading hatred, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said top party leaders had condemned these incidents and spoken against controversial statements made by some leaders.

He also raked up previous riots to claim that the Congress' charge was "factually and historically" incorrect.

Asked about incendiary remarks made by a number of BJP leaders over Dadri lynching and beef row, he said top party leaders had condemned these incidents and referred to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's assertion today that they were "put on notice".

"Almost all recent incidents have happened in states ruled by Congress or its allies. Dadri incident happened in Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party, which was an ally of Congress, is in power. A murder (of a noted Kannada writer and rationalist) occurred in Congress-ruled Karnataka," he said.

Another rationalist in Maharashtra was killed when Congress-NCP alliance was in power, he added. Union Home Ministry had also sent an advisory to the UP government and sought report over Dadri murder while Congress did nothing like this during 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, Trivedi said.

Quizzed about a number of violent protests by BJP ally Shiv Sena, he said his party had made it clear that it did not agree with Sena's methods and condemned these incidents.

He said an impression was being created that such things were happening for the first time and alleged that Delhi under Congress rule saw its "worst massacre" in 1984 anti-Sikh riots after Nadir Shah's attack on the city in the 18th century.

Trivedi also raked up forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir following a spate of targeted killing, and called its the biggest migration after 1947.

"The truth is, Congress is using propaganda to take revenge for its most shameful defeat in the history in Lok Sabha elections. It is acting out of prejudice," he said.

While BJP has taken action against its leaders for their controversial remarks, SP and Congress never acted against Azam Khan and Digvijay Singh for their objectionable statements, Trivedi said.

PTI