Vijay Rupani attacks Rahul Gandhi, blames Congress for inciting attack on migrants in Gujarat

CM Rupani has blamed the Congress party for inciting violence in Gujarat.

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has attacked Congress Rahul Gandhi for his tweet blaming the ruling party for recent attacks on migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the state.

In a series of hard-hitting tweets, the Gujarat Chief Minister blamed the Congress party for inciting violence.

"Congress first incites violence against migrants. [Then] Congress president tweets to condemn this violence. Does the Congress president not have any shame?" Rupani said in a series of tweets.

Congress first incites violence against Migrants.
Congress President tweets to condemn this violence.
Does the Congress President not have any shame? — Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018

In another tweet, Rupani said that Congress president needs to be ashamed of tweeting this when his own party is inciting violence against migrants.

However, Congress President needs to be ashamed of tweeting this when his own party is inciting violence against migrants. — Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018

Rupani also asked the Congress chief to take action against his party workers who incited violence against the migrant workers in Gujarat.

''If the Congress president is against the violence in Gujarat, he needs to take action against its own members who incited violence against the migrants in Gujarat,'' Rupani tweeted.

If the Congress President is against the violence in Gujarat, he needs to take action against its own members who incited violence against the migrants in Gujarat.
Tweeting is not the solution, taking action is! But will he act? — Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 8, 2018

Tweets from Rupani came shortly after Rahul Gandhi tweeted, saying that the recent attacks on the migrants in Gujarat occurred because of unemployment and the shutdown of factories in the state.

"There is no panic due to poverty. The root causes of the violence in Gujarat are the closed factories and unemployment. Both system and economy are collapsing. Targeting migrant workers is completely wrong. I totally stand against it," Rahul tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the Gujarat Police had arrested Congress leader Mohanji Thakor for threatening migrants. 

Gujarat Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja, in a press conference, had indirectly blamed the Congress for the attacks. 

Meanwhile, Congress leader Alpesh Thakor, who is also accused of inciting these attacks, has rubbished these charges.

Gujarat Police have arrested so far arrested nearly 400 people in connection with the attacks on migrants from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the state over the rape of a minor girl in the Sabarkantha district.

According to news reports, nearly 50,000 workers from UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have already fled Gujarat fearing violence. Several videos circulated on social media where workers were seen being targeted also added to the atmosphere of fear.

It all began on September 28, when a 14-month-old girl in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat was allegedly raped by a man from Bihar. The accused was arrested but the incident created outrage among a section of Gujaratis, who mobilised small mobs to attack unrelated migrant workers.

Mehsana and Sabarkantha are the worst-hit districts. 

Additional forces have been deployed in sensitive areas in Gujarat for the security of Hindi-speaking migrants after attacks on them.

The state government on Monday made an appeal for their return amid an ongoing political slugfest.

Assuring security to the migrants, the Gujarat government said nearly 431 people were arrested and 56 FIRs registered in connection with the attacks.

Appealing to people not to engage in violence, CM Rupani said that no untoward incident had taken place during the last 48 hours.

"We are committed to maintaining law and order, and people can call police in case of trouble. We will provide them security." he told reporters in Rajkot.

Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -Yogi Adityanath and Nitish Kumar - and Union minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan, who hails from Bihar, spoke to Rupani to voice their concern.