Attacking the Narendra Modi government over an "alarming increase" in incidents of communal violence, Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, said on Wednesday that "more than 600 riots have taken place in the last three months and state governments have been blamed."
"Why have there been so many riots in the past two-three months?" questioned Kharge in the Lok Sabha.
"It is not a coincidence that riots are taking place only in poll-bound states," he added.
Read: 308 communal incidents reported this year
As soon as the House met for the day, Kharge said his party had been pressing for a debate on communal violence but due to various other issues on the agenda, importance was not given to their demand.
He wondered where the party should raise the issue if it is not allowed to raise it in Lok Sabha.
This prompted Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to say that no finger should be raised at the Chair.
Kharge said his party had all the trust in the Speaker and it was not accusing her of bias.
As he started the debate, Kharge and his party colleagues pointed to the absence of the home minister and the ministers of state concerned, saying such an important matter "should not be taken lightly" by the government. "This is not good," the Congress leader said.
The Speaker then adjourned the House for half an hour.
Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi also said there had been "subtle but pernicious signals of intolerance" ever since the new government came to power.
"We have had hundreds of incidents of communal violence and rioting in Uttar Pradesh, in Maharashtra and a number of other states. In addition, there have been other subtle but pernicious signals of intolerance," she said, addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).
The BJP later hit back at Gandhi for her remarks saying the charges were "baseless" and an outcome of the party's "desperation".
"The Congress is levelling completely baseless charges and we completely reject this. They (charges) are politically motivated," BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters outside Parliament House.
A total of 308 communal incidents were reported in the country in the first six months of this year of which 56 have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said 51 communal incidents had taken place in Maharashtra till June this year, 44 communal incidents had taken place in Karnataka, 33 incidents had taken place in Rajasthan, 32 incidents in Bihar and 26 incidents had taken place in Gujarat.
Rijiju said of the 823 communal incidents in 2013, a total of 247 communal incidents had taken place in Uttar Pradesh, 88 in Maharashtra, 84 in Madhya Pradesh, 73 in Karnataka, 68 in Gujarat, 63 in Bihar and 52 in Rajasthan.
The minister said of the 668 communal incidents that took place in 2012, 118 occurred in Uttar Pradesh, 94 in Maharashtra, 92 in Madhya Pradesh, 69 in Karnataka, 60 in Andhra Pradesh, 57 in Gujarat, 56 in Kerala and 37 in Rajasthan.
With inputs from PTI
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