At Bihar rally, PM Modi rakes up Godhra train arson to accuse Opposition of appeasement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses during an election rally. File. | Photo Credit: ANI

Raking up the 2002 Godhra train arson, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 4 charged RJD president Lalu Prasad with having tried to “save” those responsible for burning alive more than 60 kar sevaks “during the rule of Sonia madam”.

Mr. Modi, who addressed an election rally at Darbhanga in north Bihar, recalled the incident that took place while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, alleging that the opposition parties always practice politics of "appeasement".

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“It is because of this appeasement politics that the father of Bihar's 'shehzada' [allusion to Tejashwi Yadav] had tried to save those who were responsible for the Godhra train burning incident”, said Mr. Modi, adding “after all, it was the rule of Sonia madam”, referring to the UPA chairperson who was also the president of the ruling Congress.

“He [Lalu Prasad], who has himself been convicted (in fodder scam cases), was then the Railway minister. He set up an inquiry committee and got a report made which exonerated those guilty of the horrendous crime. But the court threw the report away”, said Mr. Modi.

Mr. Modi accused the opposition parties of “trying to rob” SCs, STs and tribals of reservations because of the “disillusionment” these deprived sections felt towards the INDIA bloc.

“The INDIA bloc is trying to divert reservations to Muslims. They are going against the views of Babasaheb Ambedkar and first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, neither of whom was in favour of reservations on religious lines”, Mr. Modi claimed.

He also slammed Tejashwi Yadav for bringing up the "Hindu Muslim narrative" at rallies while talking about Agnipath scheme” and said “when we talk about the martyrdom of Captain Hameed, do we think of him as a Muslim?” Without naming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav by name, he said, "There is a shehzada in Delhi and one in Patna, both of whom think of the country as their fiefdom [jaagir]." “Their mindset was exposed when they raised questions about the surgical strikes and spoke ill of the armed forces”, said Mr. Modi.