'Maha govt's inaction led to violence'

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accused the Maharashtra government of adopting an apathetic attitude to the desecration of Ganesh idols and other cases which led to communal violence in the state and said strong and timely action could have prevented the situation from deteriorating.

"We condemn the government apathy in solving the very sensitive and emotional issue which has now spread to many parts of Maharashtra," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said and alleged that the government had buckled under the pressure of communal forces.

"Chhatrapati Shivaji and his history has always remained a matter of pride in the state...The government should not have asked for removal of the tableau depicting Shivaji killing Afzal Khan," he said.

The BJP MP said idols of Lord Ganesh were attacked not only in Miraj but also in Mumbai while in Pune Ram idols were desecrated. "There must be some hand behind the conspiracy to disturb communal harmony. Government should have immediately swung into action and arrested the brains behind the attack but it allowed the situation to drift and allowed hooligans to go on a rampage," Javadekar said.

He said this showed the "utter failure" of the government as instead of acting tough against conspirators and hooligans, it detained two BJP MLAs and did not allow MP Gopinath Munde to go to the spot and establish peace.