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"This election is important not just for Bihar but will decide the direction the country has to take. It will decide if the country will lead towards conflict or a path of peace and development," said Sonia.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday used RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks on reservation to target the BJP, saying “we cannot budge an inch from Constitutional provisions on reservation for SC/ST and OBCs”. She also alleged there was “match-fixing between Nagpur (where the RSS headquarters is located) and Delhi”. In Bihar for the first time since the poll dates were announced, Sonia targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his foreign trips. “The PM goes to foreign countries very often and loves embracing people to show affinity. It is an artificial embrace. He should rather come to his own people and try to wipe their tears,” she said.

On Bhagwat’s remarks that there should be a review of the reservation policy, Sonia said, “The RSS and the BJP are trying to mislead people… We cannot budge an inch from Constitutional provisions on reservation… Instead, we want to extend more facilities to every poor person.” Addressing a modest crowd, she said, “People of Bhagalpur have shown political discretion by not falling for Modi’s bluff in the last Lok Sabha elections and the Bhagalpur Assembly bypolls. Bihar is standing at the crossroads. This election is important not just for Bihar but will decide the direction the country has to take. It will decide if the country will lead towards conflict or a path of peace and development.” In the last Lok Sabha elections, the RJD had won the Bhagalpur seat defeating BJP’s Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, while Congress’s Ajit Sharma had taken away the Bhagalpur Assembly seat from the BJP. Sonia also accused Modi of not cooperating with Congress-ruled state governments. “The PM has been discriminating against CMs of opposition parties. I want to ask, what is the fault of people of such states. Are they not the children of this country? Modi government is behind your problems,” she said.

BJP creating fear among minorities, says Gulam Nabi Azad

Accompanied by Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary, Gulam Nabi Azad said it was the RSS which was running both the central and BJP ruled state governments.

Senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad on Monday slammed BJP leaders for “creating fear” in the mind of minorities by making provocative statements after the Dadri incident and in an apparent dig at the Prime Minister, he said such comments were not possible without the “blessings of their leadership.” “BJP is responsible for creating an atmosphere in which minorities are feeling scared,” Azad told reporters reacting to the statements of several BJP and RSS leaders after Dadri incident. “This would not have been possible without the blessings of their leadership,” he said apparently referring to PM Narendra Modi. Azad, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, referred to the statement of Union Culture minister Mahesh Sharma that justice would be done to both Mohammad Ikhlaq’s family and those who killed him. “This reflects the rotten mindset of the people sitting in the power and that too from the Culture minister whose job is to preserve and protect the culture and harmony. The minister should have rather said that those who killed will be punished but he said that justice will be done even to the accused,” he said. On Friday last, Sharma had said that Justice will be served for everyone – the family and also for the youths under arrest. “I hold BJP leadership more responsible for creating such an environment of fear and scare than those people who killed Mohammad Ikhlaq,” the Congress leader said, adding that the minorities were feeling scared ever since NDA formed the government in the country. “Senior leaders, office-bearers, MPs and BJP ministers frequently make statements which pitch one religion against another…No one takes any action against such utterances. This shows that they (those who make such statements) have the backing of their (BJP) leadership,” he said. Accompanied by Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary, Azad said it was the RSS which was running both the central and BJP ruled state governments. “Chief ministers, ministers, officials – everyone is listening to the diktats of RSS,” Azad alleged. When asked to comment on Lalu Prasad’s beef statement, he said Prasad had already made it clear that beef did not mean ‘gomans’ (cattle meat). Asked why Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were not sharing platform with Lalu Prasad at election rallies, Azad said “there is no time for leaders to participate in each others’ programme (election rallies)”. “Congress had an alliance with National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, but during elections we never had joint meetings,” he said.

In Dadri, BJP legislator Sangeet Som warns: ‘Befitting reply if innocents framed’

Som, who was accused of making inflammatory speeches during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots attacked the SP government alleging it was appeasing the minority community.

Controversial BJP MLA Sangeet Som, accused of making inflammatory speeches during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots, threatened in Bisara on Sunday that they were capable of giving a “befitting reply” if “innocents were framed” for lynching of a man over beef rumours. Accusing the Samajwadi Party government of appeasing the minority community “like it had done two years ago”, and “helping those who had slaughtered a cow”, he told a gathering at a temple on the outskirts of Bisara, “Agar nirdoshon ke khilaf karyawahi ki gayi, to munh-tod jawab hamne pehle bhi diya hai aur abh bhi dena jante hain (If action is taken against innocent, we have given a befitting reply earlier and can do so again). We can give a reply whenever we want.”

“They (the Akhlaq family) were taken by the Uttar Pradesh government (to Lucknow) in an airplane. How they treated the accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots, they are treating those who have slaughtered a cow the same way,” he said

Som claimed that this was why he couldn’t meet Akhlaq’s family in the village, because they had been “taken away in an airplane” by the Uttar Pradesh government.
 
Earlier, in his address to villagers at the Kirtan Bhawan temple, he said “in our values”, cowdung was used on auspicious occasions. And that “even though a mother loves her child the most”, the first meal prepared in the house is given by the mother “to a cow and not her child”.
 
While telling the crowd to refrain from taking the law into their hands, the MLA added, “But law or administration should not be under the misunderstanding that innocent boys can be framed… Don’t threaten us with being imprisoned. Earlier too we (served time), we will go in again, there is no problem. But we will never tolerate this kind of torture. Such atrocities will not be tolerated at any cost… You can get around 50,000 people and I will get 50,000. We will send one lakh after the administration, but I will not let anyone harass you.”
 
He further warned, “If innocent people are framed, we are not the ones who will sit silently. Our blood is not such that suffers torture.”
 
Attacking the media, Som said, “For the last three days, we have been watching only one news on TV, completely one-sided. The media decides that such (a thing) has happened. We never say such kind of things. There has been a killing, even we know this. The law will take its own course. But names of youth who are 50-100 km away from here are being noted and they are being sent to prison. Women are being harassed.”
 
The MLA also claimed a special affinity to the village, saying many women from his village were married into Bisara. “I am like your nephew,” he said, “I belong to you. I will not let you suffer.” Therefore, he said, he was making this appeal to them not to break the law. “I have not come here in the capacity of a leader. I am from your house, I am one among you, I am your brother. I have not come here in the capacity of an MLA. I will fold my hands and appeal to you — Do not do anything to take the law into your own hands.”
 
Alluding to AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s visit to the village and his remarks about the incident being pre-planned, Som said, “People from Hyderabad come here, give speeches and leave. They are victims of misunderstanding. They should not think this is Hyderabad, this is Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh mein thok kar jawab diya jaat hai (Uttar Pradesh doesn’t replies in kind).”
 
Pointing out that police had asked him to ensure that not too many people accompanied him, Som said he had heeded their advice. But while he had the same amount of responsibility as the administration in maintaining peace and order, he said, “The administration should not think that the responsibility is one-sided. Their responsibility is theirs. If they can’t handle it, things will start getting worse everywhere.”
 
Som faces two FIRs in connection with the September 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, which left 65 dead. He is accused by the Uttar Pradesh Police of uploading the video that allegedly sparked communal tension in the area, and of making inflammatory speeches right before the riots.