Ranchi: The BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) Jharkhand unit on December 16 slammed the media and Opposition for projecting the party as 'communal' and alleged that a section of the print and electronic media was playing into the hands of some parties carrying out the slander campaign.

''India is the only country where one finds Presidents, Governors and Chief Ministers from the minority community...We respect the Constitution which gives equal rights to all,'' the party's state organising secretary, Hridayanath Singh, told a press conference in Ranchi.

He said that the more the Opposition parties raised hue and cry over the Ayodhya issue the more the BJP would stand to benefit.

Congratulating Narendra Modi for his landslide victory, Singh said, ''Gujarat will be repeated in Jharkhand during the next Assembly polls in the state. Godda is the beginning''.

Stating that the BJP's defeat in the Dumka Lok Sabha by-poll recently was due to a weak candidate put up against the JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) supremo, Sibu Soren, Singh pointed out that the BJP's Godda win was because of the good performance of the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government.

PTI