Patna, April 18 (Inditop) Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad has declared that the Congress party too was to blame for the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.
Lalu Prasad made the point first on Friday while addressing an election meeting in Darbhanga and repeated it to journalists here Saturday.
After blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader L.K. Advani for the mosque razing, which triggered widespread communal violence, the railway minister said the Congress was also responsible for the event.
“The BJP and Advani were mainly responsible for the demolition but the Congress cannot escape responsibility for its failure to protect it,” said the member of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet.
The RJD supremo’s remarks are widely seen in Bihar as a bid to woo Muslim voters ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections April 23.
Lalu Prasad has snapped links with the Congress in Bihar for the elections but says he remains a part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
rounak