Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly Polls 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that Gujarat has attained 'permanent peace' after BJP taught the perpetrators 'a lesson' in 2002.
The Union Home Minister also directly accused the Congress party for patronising the anti-social elements who earlier indulged in violence in Gujarat.
Addressing a rally in Mahudha town of Kheda district in support of BJP candidates ahead of the next month's Assembly elections, Shah alleged, “Communal riots were rampant in Gujarat when the Congress was in power. Tell me out loud whether it used to happen or not? Once in 2002, Narendra Modi made an effort and taught such a lesson (to the rioters) that no one has dared to raise their heads till now. The rioters went out of Gujarat. BJP has established peace in Gujarat,” Amit Shah said.
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"But after they were taught a lesson in 2002, these elements left that path (of violence). They refrained from indulging in violence from 2002 till 2022. BJP has established permanent peace in Gujarat by taking strict action against those who used to indulge in communal violence," the Union minister said.
Parts of Gujarat had witnessed large-scale violence in 2002 following the train burning incident at Godhra railway station in February that year.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for abrogating Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, Shah alleged that the Congress was against it because of its "vote bank".
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Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra soon took to Twitter to slam the Union minister’s statement. “'They Were Taught Lesson In 2002, Permanent Peace In Gujarat': Amit Shah. This is the Home Minister of India. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten his not-so-little hand,” she wrote.
Ahead of the assembly polls in Gujarat, BJP is aggressively campaigning in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The party has been in power in the state for nearly two decades now.
(With PTI inputs)
