Reacting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress Party on Wednesday said Modi is exaggerating small issues and trying to take benefit out of them.
Congress leader Harish Rawat asked, "Advice has been given to states by the Home Ministry from time to time. On such a serious issue, many leaders in the past have voiced their opinions. So, if the Home Ministry gives his advice on this, then where does politics into this picture?"
"Modi doesn't have an agenda regarding the future of the country. That's why he is exaggerating petty issues. There is nothing new in his speeches," he added.
Janata Dal United (JDU) leader K.C. Tyagi said, "Modi sees everything in negative sense and tries to exploit it in his favour."
He said Modi is always in search of such issues which can be easily communalized and will increase his vote bank.
"He is the biggest trader of vote bank politics," he said.
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"If Shinde has written such a letter, then it is not an order. It is the duty of the Central governments to give suggestions to state government. It is upto the state government to abide by it or not," he added.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar defended Modi's letter to PM, saying, "Today, people all over are criticizing Sushil Kumar Shinde's statement. The way he expressed his communal mindset, proves that the Congress is the most communal party in the country.
"Where does religion comes while letting off people who are innocent? We condemn his statement. The Congress has a habit of giving every issue a religious angle," he added.
Earlier today, Modi had written a letter to the Prime Minister saying, "The home minister's concern about Muslims is a brazen and callous attempt to woo the minority community and even the minority community will raise questions on the timing of such statements."
In a press conference, Shinde had said that he would be writing to all state governments asking them to establish mechanisms or screening committees to look into the role youths, belonging to minorities, lodged up in jails on terror charges.