Kiren Rijiju throws 'intolerance' ball in Congress' court

NEW DELHI: Accusing Congress of selectively raising the `intoler ance' debate to target the Modi government, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on Thursday asked why the party's functionaries were silent when thousands of citi zens of north-eastern origin were forced to leave Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune in view of racial threats two years ago.

Speaking exclusively to TOI, Rijiju said communal incidents and killings were down in 2014 and 2015 (until October) as compared to 2013, when UPA was in power. “I am not saying lesser incidents and killings are a huge achievement... such incidents should not happen at all. But given that the incidents are lower, why has this debate on `intolerance' been generated?“ he asked.

Reminding the NDA's critics about the exodus by north-eastern men and women in 2013 when racial threats created a fear psychosis and forced them to head back to their home states, Rijiju wondered why those crying `intolerance' now chose to remain mum then.

Stating that feeling `intolerance' was a subjective matter depending on who was staying where and what challenges he faced, Rijiju said the reality was that both incidents and killings were down in 2015 and second half of 2014.

Riots, he said, had taken place even before BJP came to power, be it in Bhagalpur or Muzaffarnagar. “Where were the intolerance debaters then?“ he asked.

According to the minister, during the Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, many Christians were openly persecuted in some states, including Arunachal Pradesh, in the name of protecting tribal rights. “Even Mother Teresa was not allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh as she was a missionary,“ alleged Rijiju. He also played back Rajiv Gandhi's statement, seemingly `justifying' the killing of Sikhs in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984.