As the death toll in communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district and adjoining areas rose to 48 on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde suspected that some political parties could be behind the violence.
His suspicion could be based on the speculation that many leaders from different political parties had held public meetings ahead of the communal flare-up in the state.
The Congress, too, had earlier alleged that the BJP could have instigated riots like in Gujarat in order to grab power. Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry alleged the Samajwadi Party was supporting the BJP in the “conspiracy”.
“BJP wants to grab power in the country by adopting Gujarat model and Samajwadi Party is supporting it in this task…whatever has happened in Muzaffarnagar puts a stamp on my view on this,” Mistry said.