IANS/Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi yesterday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, saying communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra were “created deliberately to divide our society.”

The government rubbished the charges, and called them “baseless.”

Speaking at the party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Gandhi said: “Incidents of communal violence, especially in some states of the north like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and some other states have increased in the 11 weeks since the new government came to power.

“And it is something which is of great concern and worry to all of us.

“During the UPA government, UPA I and UPA II, there were hardly any such incidents,” she said referring to the previous two terms of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.

“But in a very short span, we have had nothing less than 600 communal violence incidents in UP and perhaps as many in Maharashtra. This of course makes us wonder and makes us think why suddenly after the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has come to power all these communal incidents...,” she said.

“...and what we believe and what is pretty clear in many instances is that these incidents are deliberately created to divide our society along religious lines.”

Her attack on the Modi government came after her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi slammed the central government on the issue.

Rahul staged an unprecedented noisy protest and also trooped to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s podium on August 6, demanding a debate on rising communal violence in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi took a dig at Rahul in his speech at the party national council meeting earlier in the week, saying “those who have suffered a massive defeat in the elections are still not able to desist from engaging in old vote bank politics.”

The prime minister had also said that the BJP “never accepts incidents (of violence) which are taking place in the country. Peace, unity and harmony are the pre-requisites for progress and there will be no compromise on this.”

Rahul had said the violence in Uttar Pradesh was “artificially and deliberately engineered.”

In New Delhi, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh told reporters outside parliament house: “I do not think it is necessary for us to comment on these off-the-cuff remarks made by anybody. What is happening is known to everybody, it is very evident.

“We live in an evidence-based era of arguments. So, I do not think we should attach much importance to what somebody is saying,” he said.

He said the prime minister and his government’s stand on all these issues was more than clear.

Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said: “The Modi government is not responsible for whatever is happening in Uttar Pradesh... Sonia Gandhi should understand as to who is ruling there and what is the situation there.”

However, Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) endorsed Sonia Gandhi’s views.

“That is what the home ministry statistics indicate (that incidents of communal tension had increased) in 2013 and now in the second quarter they are much more.

“They are rising in direct proportion to the by-elections that are happening. And in the 12 constituencies where the by-elections are due, you find communal tensions rising very sharply,” he said.