Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge speaks in the Lok Sabha
The BJP today said the Congress had failed to prove its charges that the number of communal flare-ups in the country had gone up ever since the
Narendra Modi government was sworn in.
"Mr Kharge, you opened the debate on communalism but you shot an arrow in the dark. You were not able to give one instance with proof that we were involved in the riots," said Kirti Azad, a BJP MP on day two of the communal violence debate in Lok Sabha.
On Wednesday, Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress's leader in the Lok Sabha had said, "Wherever there are elections happening or about to happen, these riots are taking place?". He was referring to reports that Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls, had witnessed more than 600 riots in the past three months.
(Drastic Rise in Communal Violence Since BJP Took Power: Sonia Gandhi)Last week, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had stormed into the well of Lok Sabha demanding a debate on the rising cases of communal violence in the country. But when the debate finally took place on Wednesday, he did not speak.
Congress's more articulate members like Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Shashi Tharoor or Amarinder Singh were either absent or not fielded. The party, though, strongly defended its choice of speakers and Mr Gandhi's decision not to speak.
"Rahul Gandhi wanted to flag the issue and the fact that you are asking me so many questions means that's been done," said Congress's Salman Khurshid.
The party's allegations in Lok Sabha that the recent riots were linked to elections had led the BJP to accuse it of the politics of appeasement.
"There are 12 lakh Hindu saints and yet they give salaries to imams. Is this secularism?" BJP's firebrand MP, Yogi Adityanath had asked.
(BJP's Yogi Adityanath Says 'Hindus Must Be Prepared to Organize Themselves')Clearly, with just 44 MPs, the Congress is not only missing numerical strength in the 16th Lok Sabha but also forceful speakers who cannot stand out in a parliamentary debate.