Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over recurring incidents of communal violence and “deliberate” attempts to divide people on religious lines.

She was speaking at a Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) convention here.
Citing a spurt of violence in states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra after the NDA government took charge, the Congress president said there was “hardly any such incident” during the two previous tenures of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the Congress.

“In a very short spell, there have been nothing less than 600 communal violence incidents in Uttar Pradesh, and perhaps as many in Maharashtra. This makes us wonder, why this sudden increase after the BJP came to power? What we believe, and what is quite clear in many instances, is that these incidents were created to divide our society along religious lines,” she said.

Slamming the Union government’s stand on the battle in Gaza, Gandhi said the response betrayed India’s long tradition of solidarity with Palestine. “At the moment, the guns have fallen silent. We hope that the peace endures,” she said.

At the convention, which was part of an effort to revitalise partymen’s spirits after the Lok Sabha poll debacle, Gandhi lauded leaders and cadre in Kerala for having “stood by the party” in the election.

“I hope that you can carry the momentum forward in the local body elections, and in two years, the Assembly election. The immediate task is to strengthen the party at the grass-root level across the country. In this, the party in other states can learn from Kerala,” she said.

Gandhi also lauded the Congress' state unit for initiating reorganisation of the party structure.