UP elections: 'KASAB' remarks reflect BJP's communal mindset, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday condemned BJP chief Amit Shah's "KASAB" remarks, saying it reflects the party's communal mindset. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that there is need to end acronyms and the manner in which Shah has said shows the BJP's communal mindset that should be "strongly condemned". "There is need to end acronyms. BJP's repulsive thinking is brought out. It shows the party's communal mindset and they speak divisive in everything," he said. The Congress leader said the statement of Shah is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and needs to be "strongly condemned" and is "reprehensible". "It is not a question of Kasab. Everybody acknowledges that he was a criminal. The question is symbolic to try and make it communal by bringing in Congress, SP, BSP," he said. "You can see their (BJP's) actual face and they want to take votes by dividing, scaring and threatening people," Singhvi said. On BJP MP Yogi Adityanath raking up the graveyard issue, Singhvi said it is "a deliberate effort to communalise and polarise the poll atmosphere." Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said cremation grounds should be developed in the same manner as graveyards and there should be supply of power during Hindu festivals as during Muslim festivals, Adityanath said the state government's developmental work is confined to "Kabristan". BJP chief Amit Shah today dubbed Congress, SP and BSP as "KASAB", adding yet another acronym in the Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, and said development will elude the state till "Kasab is laid to rest". Elaborating on the acronym at an election meeting here, he said, "Ye Uttar Pradesh ki janata is baar ke chunav mein is Kasab se mukti paa le. Main phir se bolta hu Uttar Pradesh ki janata is baar ke chunav mein is Kasab se mukti paa le. Kasab se mera matlab kuch aur mat nikaliyega. Kasab se mera matlab hai- KA se Congress, SA se Samajwadi Party aur B se BSP." (In this election, people of UP should get rid of Kasab. I say it again, people of UP should get rid of Kasab. Do not take any other meaning when I say Kasab. What I mean by KASAB is -- KA for Congress, SA for Samajwadi Party and B for BSP.) Shah made these comments at a public rally in Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, while seeking to draw a parallel between the rival parties and the Mumbai attack perpetrator Ajmal Kasab. "Until and unless Kasab is laid to rest, development and prosperity will continue to elude the poll-bound state. "In other words, it means that the state may have to languish further, if there is no respite from these political parties," he said