BJP wants to push the country into civil war: RJD leader

Rashtriya Janata Dal Vice President Shivanand Tiwari on Thursday charged that the BJP wants to push the country into a civil war through events like 'Dharma Sansad' (religious congregation).

"Dharma Sansad was held in Uttarakhand's Haridwar city where leaders of several extremist Hindu organisations had given hate speeches against a particular community and provoked for genocide," Tiwari told IANS.

"Why are the Centre and state government allowing such an event to take place in the country? The extremist groups are openly provoking genocide. Their acts are aimed at breaking the country. They want to provoke civil war only to win elections and remain in power. What were the Prime Minister of India and the chief minister of Uttarakhand doing?" Tiwari said.

He questioned the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab.

"The prime minister of the country has made an issue of his security breach.. of an incident where farmers were 1 km away from the actual spot. Why is he not commenting on an incident where leaders of several organisations openly provoked people for genocide? This is the double standard of the Narendra Modi government," he said.

"In a democracy, farmers, students, unemployed youths, victims have the right to protest in front of the prime minister or the chief minister. Everyone knew that the farmers of the country are angry with the BJP government especially in Punjab and Haryana where more than 800 farmers lost their lives during the struggle against the three farm laws last year," Tiwari said.

"Following the incident, the apex court of India has constituted an investigating committee headed by Retd judge of the Supreme Court. In this committee, officials of NIA, IB and other agencies are also involved. Still, you are not waiting for the report and initiated a signature campaign to garner public sympathy," he said.

"We saw a person holding a BJP flag near the convoy of the prime minister in Bhatinda. He had also given a statement in public and claimed that when he saw the PM's convoy, he shouted slogans in his favour. I want to point out what the SPG was doing there. Why was that man allowed to reach the roadside near the convoy of the PM. The Indian government spends Rs 600 crore annually on the SPG but its men are incapable of providing security to the prime minister," Tiwari said.