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Sonia attacks BJP for fomenting communal divide

"If the leaders take to incitement and walk the path of destruction, what inspiration will the new generation draw from the depressing environment that surrounds them?" Gandhi said in apparent reference to the recent communal violence in the state in which close to 1,000 people lost their lives.

"Some people, to further their vested interests, are deliberately driving a wedge between different communities," she told a public meeting at Koba near Gandhinagar, where the Jain muni, Acharya Mahapragyaji, who led an Ahimsa Yatra from Churu in Rajasthan to Ahmedabad, is staying.

Addressing another function at Morvi during her daylong visit to Gujarat, Gandhi accused the BJP of always trying to gain something by fomenting divisions among the people.

"Instead, the BJP should behave as leader of the family and keep the family united," the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said while handing over the keys of some houses rebuilt after they were flattened in the Republic Day earthquake more than a year ago.

She said it was part of the culture of the Congress to keep people united and preserve the nation's integrity. Accusing BJP leaders of hypocrisy, she said, "Dil mein kuch aur mooh mein kuch aur (what is in their hearts is different from what they say). It does not give you anything for emulation. And what does the young generation have to follow an adarsh ka rasta (a principled life)?"

"The air of hatred and violence that is permeating Gujarat is all the more depressing," she remarked, "because it is the land of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest votary of non-violence and peace in the modern world."

Gandhi accused BJP governments in the state and at the Centre of failing to provide succour to the people of Gujarat hit by drought, earthquake, and flood. "Even after one and a half years of the killer earthquake in Kutch and Saurashtra region, the quake-hit people have not received enough help from the government," she said. "The people of these regions are still suffering."

PTI

Gujarat Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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