The BJP government in Gujarat has been blaming Congress for the aggravation of the situation and in a press conference on Tuesday BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra played a video of a Gujarati speech of Thakor with the translated Hindi subtitles.
Training his guns at the Congress party, Patra maintained that Congress leaders are responsible for triggering violence in several parts of the country.
As per the subtitles of the video while Thakor was addressing a gathering in Gujarat’s Radhapur he said that all these people (non-Gujaratis) hailing from outside perpetrate crimes in the state and have led to a spurt in the criminal incidents. He said: “They kill villagers here and go back after committing the crime.”
Later in the video Thakor incited aggression by saying: “Companies’ trucks will be stopped, doors will be broken and their premises stormed.” He then asked: “How many people are ready to fight?”
He further said: “Companies shall be stopped, these trucks shall be stooped and if necessary their tyres will be set ablaze. Rakesh Bhai Yadav has come to plunder the state.”
Patra also said in the press conference that Rahul Gandhi tried to aggravate the Patel revolt in the state but people of Gujarat rejected him. He also lashed out at Rahul Gandhi’s “close aide” Jignesh Mewani who he said to be “responsible for the Bhima Koregaon violence in Maharashtra.” He said that in Madhya Pradesh Jeetu Patwani incited violence and talked of setting police station on fire.
After the rape of a 14-month-old Thakor community girl allegedly by a Bihari migrant worker in Sabarkantha, Thakor had blamed a "non-Gujarati" for the rape in the public. Six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have since then seen sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people, leading to what is being termed as an exodus of the migrants.
The BJP and Congress are engaged in the blame game ever since. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani had attacked Rahul Gandhi on Twitter yesterday and had asked whether the Congress president will take action against his party's "own members who incited violence against the migrants in Gujarat".
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In an exclusive talk with ABP News Thakor today said: “the incident of rape with a 14-month-old child of my community is shameful. It is my community that is facing injustice but these people (BJP) have conspired and are giving it the angle of driving migrants away. The migrants are our people. I would like to tell you that my son is in hospital and if my community and if I will be defamed then I will resign as as MLA.”
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