Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut
Credit: PTI File Photo
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed there was apprehension that a Godhra train fire-like incident could take place at the time of the Ram temple inauguration ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Talking to reporters here, he also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'single-point agenda' was to create religious tensions in the country before the general elections.
The Rajya Sabha member was speaking ahead of the opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A's meeting here on August 31 and September 1.
“We fear that just like the way Godhra happened, as it is said….similarly, during the Ram Mandir inauguration, trainloads of people will be brought (to Ayodhya) from different parts of the country. A Pulwama-type attack will take place on one of the trains to create communal tensions. This is a fear among people,” Raut claimed.
The Godhra train fire incident of February 27, 2002, had triggered widespread riots in Gujarat. An attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar Highway on February 14, 2019, had claimed the lives of 40 security personnel.
“It is said that if Pulwama can be orchestrated, it is said Godhra was orchestrated, then such brutal acts can be carried out before the elections. Many political parties have this fear,” Raut claimed.
This will be discussed in the INDIA alliance's meeting in Mumbai, he said.The BJP “fooled” people in 2014 and celebrated an 'anniversary' of that fooling in 2019 and staged a “drama of surgical strikes,' Raut alleged, claiming further that the saffron party is set to create a rift and communal riots in the country in 2024.