Blame game over Vidisha violence

State Law Minister Veer Singh Raghuvanshi, who is also the Congress MLA from Ganjbasoda, blamed the BJP squarely for the incidents, while BJP leaders — led by Union Minister for Coal and Mines Uma Bharti and Lok Sabha member from Vidisha Shivraj Singh Chauhan — blamed Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

The BJP leaders alleged Singh knew that cow slaughter was taking place in Ganjbasoda and yet had taken no steps to prevent it. ‘‘Had there been no cow slaughter in Ganjbasoda, there would have been no question of any violence taking place,’’ Chauhan said.

Bharti said the CM must accept responsibility for the violence in Ganjbasoda as he had been making statements that such a thing may happen in the state. ‘‘Singh’s statements were of a provocative nature and he himself was interested in instigating communal violence,’’ Bharti alleged.

Another bone of contention has been the arrest of at least two of the rioters under the National Security Act (NSA). Bharti said NSA should not have been applied ‘‘just like that’’ without any proper inquiry. Both Chauhan and she have demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.

Soon after the BJP won the Gujarat elections, the CM had claimed that the BJP or its allies may instigate communal violence in Madhya Pradesh.