Cong bats for Trinamool, blames BJP for violence

The Congress party on Wednesday scoffed at BJP President Amit Shah's claims of Bengal being the only state to have witnessed poll violence during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and accused him of “promoting mobocracy” to expand his party's footprints across the country.

Recalling the instances of booth capturing in Tripura during the initial phases of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi reminded Shah that the Election Commission had to order a re-poll in the northeastern state.

“Have you not heard incidents of violence in Kerala and Tamil Nadu? One doesn't know whether Amit Shah is in India or some other country,” Singhvi said here.

The Congress leader also recounted allegations of Haryana minister Manish Grover intimidating voters during the elections to the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat on Sunday last.

Singhvi condemned the violence during Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata and accused the Narendra Modi-Shah duo of promoting “mobocracy” in the country and damaging the cultural identity of the states.

“This negative politics of 'destruction, demolition and discretion' are methodically vitiating the political atmosphere of the country. The BJP wants to exert its monolithic supremacy and bigoted agenda on each state, thus weakening the federal polity,” he alleged.

The Congress leader alleged that disrespect for national icons and hegemony of its own ideology was reflective of the BJP's mindset. He recalled how BJP's H Raja had pledged to destroy the statue of social reformer Periyar in Chennai.

“Wherever the BJP has zero presence, the BJP specialises in creating polarisation, violence divisiveness an atmosphere of tension for cheap political gain,” Singhvi said.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had actively justified pulling down statues, but no action was taken against him, Singhvi claimed.

Singhvi alleged that a bust of national icon B R Ambedkar was found splashed with red paint in north Chennai and in February this year, members of a fringe right wing group associated with the Sangh Parivar had re-enacted the scene of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination by shooting his effigy with an air pistol.