Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Balbir Punj on Monday said the Congress is trying to communalise the elections, after Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde declared that the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill had been approved by the cabinet.
"It is a very sad day for Indian democracy. The Congress which has been losing its grounds in the country due to its inefficiency, corruption and growing resentment against dynastic rule is trying to change the agenda for elections," said Punj.
"It is trying to communalise the elections. It wants to divide the electorate into Hindus and Muslims," he said.
He said the BJP will fight against this move till the end.
"The BJP will fight against this undemocratic law within the parliament and outside. This only shows that the Congress has no regard for public opinion," he said.
"It is not only an effort to communalise the elections but it is also an onslaught of the federal nature of the government," he added.
Earlier, Modi had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in which he termed the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill as ill-conceived, poorly drafted and a recipe for disaster.
Modi and the rest of the BJP top brass have claimed that the Bill could vitiate the atmosphere and polarise Indian society.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Modi had described the bill as an attempt to encroach upon the authorities of the state governments and sought wider consultation among the various stakeholders such as the state governments, political parties, and police and security agencies, before any further movement on the issue.
The Gujarat Chief Minister said his government is sensitive to the issue of communal violence and agreed that there is a need to be vigilant on communal violence but the contents and timing of the bill are suspicious.
Responding to Modi's criticism of the government's Prevention of Communal Violence Bill, Manmohan Singh had said that it would be his endeavour to develop a broad-based consensus on the proposed legislation.
