Kickstarting his party's election campaign here, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said at a rally here that Uttar Pradesh is being divided communally, and added that his party is the only political outfit that can rescue the state, provided it is elected in 2014.
Gandhi said the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar were orchestrated and did not happen independently. He said his party was the only one that could rescue the state from the grip of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party or the opposition Bhaujan Samaj Party.
"I went to Muzaffarnagar, spoke to both Hindus and Muslims. They said there is no enmity between them and that it's all done by political forces. ...The riots in Muzaffarnagar were caused, they didn't happen," Gandhi said.
"Has anybody gained from the Muzaffarnagar riots, did anybody then ask who is a Hindu and who is a Muslim?" he said.
Gandhi also slammed the two mainstream political parties of Uttar Pradesh and offered the Congress alternative to the people, saying: "Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party can't save Uttar Pradesh, only Congress can."
Furthering the attack on the UP governance, Gandhi alleged that the people of the state were being divided on religious and communal lines, within a secular democratic setup of the country.
"Uttar Pradesh is lagging behind because you are being divided on communal lines; Hindus and Muslims are being divided in the state," Gandhi said.
Furthering his onslaught on the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government, Gandhi criticised the lack of basic resources of the state, and said: "The Uttar Pradesh Government has a laptop scheme but no electricity."
Lauding the UPA-led Centre's pro-poor schemes, Gandhi said: "We will continue to work for you,right to employment,right to food,right to education....We gave employment to crores of people, and now we have got the food security bill for you. ...We fought for your land and rights, got the land acquisition bill passed."
Gandhi also broke his silence on his previous publicly stated remarks on the ordinance on convicted lawmakers and said that he stood strong on his view, despite being severely criticised for the way he went about it.
"I was slammed for my comment on the ordinance on convicted lawmakers but there is no right time to speak the truth," Gandhi said.
Aligarh is seen as the epicentre of minority politics in the state, while Rampur is the home district of the Samajwadi Party's Muslim face and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan.
Rahul Gandhi's rallies in Uttar Pradesh comes a day after his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited her parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli and drew attention of the people to the ambitious Food Security and Land Acquisition Acts brought in by the Centre.
Sonia Gandhi also laid the foundation stone of Uttar Pradesh's first All India Institute of Medical Sciences complex in her parliamentary constituency.
