Journalism of Courage
Alleging that the riots in Muzaffarnagar last year were a “conspiracy” by the BJP and the ruling Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and union minister Ajit Singh on Thursday termed them “political riots”.
Addressing a rally in Agra, Singh said, “They weren’t communal riots, they were political riots. It was a conspiracy by the SP and the BJP to divide the people and reap political advantage.”
Singh, who launched a scathing attack on SP, BJP and Mayawati’s BSP, said this country will not survive if riots continue to take place like this.
The Muzaffarnagar riots in September had shaken the Jat-Muslim social base of the party. While many RLD Jat supporters felt Ajit Singh did not back them enough in their conflict with Muslims, many Muslim supporters alleged RLD did not do enough to restrain Jat supporters from engineering violence.
Interestingly, Singh chose the same venue where BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi had addressed a rally in November last year. The RLD chief, however, was quick to claim he had drawn such an impressive crowd at the same venue that BJP leaders would now “lose sleep”. “Tonight BJP leaders will not be able to sleep after seeing the crowds here. This proves people will not fall into Modi’s trap,” he said.
Lashing out at the Akhilesh Yadav government, Singh said there was no law and order or infrastructure development in the state. “UP has not one, but five CMs with all the different power centres. But the one who sits in the chair can be counted as just half a CM,” he said.
