By IANS
New Delhi : A day after terming the attacks on north Indian migrants in Mumbai as against the constitution, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday changed its tack and termed the violence as a “Congress conspiracy”.
BJP senior leader L.K. Advani Monday criticised the Sena factions for their utterances against north Indians. He said: “We cannot accept this, what is happening in Maharashtra. What Raj and Udhav (Thackeray) are saying, that people of Uttar Pradesh and north India should not live in Mumbai, is against the constitution. It is against national integration.”
But on Tuesday, reacting to the latest attacks on north Indian migrants, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said: “This is a Congress conspiracy. The MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Party of Raj Thackeray) has fought municipal elections in Mumbai and other places in alliance with the Congress party. We are for national integration.”
Javadekar said the Congress should accept the responsibility or break its alliance with the MNS. He said: “The Congress should answer what understanding it has with the MNS and are they willing to break ties with it on this very crucial question involving the country?”
“There are reports of violence from Pune, Nashik, Mumbai and Aurangabad. We condemn such violence. Our leader L.K. Advani has already stated that the BJP is for upholding the constitutional guarantees. Everyone has a right to work in any part of the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a partner in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) central government, called upon the Maharashtra government to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against “those involved in these acts”.
RJD leader and Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said: “Anyone who is concerned about national integration and national interests, would be concerned at this. Anyone trying to destroy peace and attack fellow citizens is committing a grievous offence. The government should act firmly and arrest them under MCOCA or whatever stringent laws they have.”