At Bihar rally, PM Modi rakes up Godhra train arson to accuse Opposition of appeasement

Raking up the 2002 Godhra train arson, PM Modi charged RJD president Lalu Prasad with having tried to “save” those responsible for burning alive more than 60 kar sevaks “during the rule of Sonia madam”

Raking up the 2002 Godhra train arson, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 4 charged RJD president Lalu Prasad with having tried to “save” those responsible for burning alive more than 60 kar sevaks “during the rule of Sonia madam”.

Mr. Modi, who addressed an election rally at Darbhanga in north Bihar, recalled the incident that took place while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, alleging that the opposition parties always practice politics of "appeasement".

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“It is because of this appeasement politics that the father of Bihar's 'shehzada' [allusion to Tejashwi Yadav] had tried to save those who were responsible for the Godhra train burning incident”, said Mr. Modi, adding “after all, it was the rule of Sonia madam”, referring to the UPA chairperson who was also the president of the ruling Congress.

“He [Lalu Prasad], who has himself been convicted (in fodder scam cases), was then the Railway minister. He set up an inquiry committee and got a report made which exonerated those guilty of the horrendous crime. But the court threw the report away”, said Mr. Modi.

Mr. Modi accused the opposition parties of “trying to rob” SCs, STs and tribals of reservations because of the “disillusionment” these deprived sections felt towards the INDIA bloc.

“The INDIA bloc is trying to divert reservations to Muslims. They are going against the views of Babasaheb Ambedkar and first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, neither of whom was in favour of reservations on religious lines”, Mr. Modi claimed.