Ahmedabad: Gujarat Congress unit president Shankersinh Vaghela on October 2 accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi for being responsible for the terrorist attack on Akshardham temple and charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government with plunging the state into unprecedented communal cauldron.

"Why was Akshardham attacked? The Urdu message found with two slain militants made it clear that it was reaction to what anab shanab (nonsensical) things you (Modi) keep uttering," Vaghela said in his address to an impressive crowd gathered under the aegis of Panchayat Parishad.

"Religion would have no meaning if the common people's survival was in question. Stop talking about religion, we are more interested in our stomach (survival)," he said.

In sharp contrast to rhetorics of Modi and other BJP leaders about religion and threat perception, Vaghela largely confined his speech to developmental aspects and repeatedly stressed that "pet (stomach/survival) is more important".

"What is Hindu, Muslim business? The survival is more important," he said and charged the government with failure on all crucial fronts like water, roads and power supply problem.

"It is high time we harp on one-point programme for a permanent solution to water problem," he said.

The former Chief Minister even went to the extent of stating that the communal killings could be compared to the "acts of a monster".

Emphasising on the need to cater to people's elementary requirements, he shared a rustic joke saying, "A hungry Gujarati is a dangerous element."

PTI