VHP's Ashok Singhal compares Muzaffarnagar and post-Godhra communal riots

NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has termed the Muzaffarnagar riots as a “consequence of certain events, just as the post-Godhra riots were a consequence of the events aboard the Sabarmati Express in 2002”.

VHP chief Ashok Singhal said this while squarely blaming the Akhilesh Yadav government for failing to control the situation. Singhal repeated the VHP contention that the “bahu beti bachao Mahapanchayat” was being held to protect the women of Muzaffarnagar and nearby villages, but that events in Kawal village spun out of control.

“The Akhilesh Yadav government has rapidly appeased one section of the population and this is the result,” he said. He, however, refused to blame Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the post-Godhra riots. “There is a divinity in Narendra Modi which is attracting so much support from across the country,” he said. He said he regretted the loss of life but “the root cause of this loss has to be addressed squarely”.