New Delhi: A day after Praveen Togadia indulged in minority-bashing at a party meet, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 28 accused the firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader of making "unnecessary" statements on Indian Muslims and rejected as "unacceptable" his criticism of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Addressing delegations of party's Muslim leaders, who had gathered at his residence to protest Togadia's "provocative" speech at a BJP Minority Morcha meeting, party general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "Such provocative statements from either side are not going to serve any useful purpose in creating an atmosphere of trust and friendship between the two communities."

Naqvi, who was present at the September 27 function in which Togadia had made some controversial remarks, said his opinion about the Indian Muslims could never be treated as the opinion of the majority community.

"Loyalty of the Indian Muslims towards the nation and their responsibility towards the society cannot be questioned...putting the whole community in the dock and blaming them for a sin committed by a few was a sign of narrow and irrational thinking," he said.

Taking strong exception to Togadia's criticism of Vajpayee, he said, "It is baseless and unacceptable. Nobody can ignore Vajpayee's contribution to India's development and in enhancing its stature in the comity of nations."

"Narrow mentality cannot work. An open mind and rational thinking from leaders of both the communities is the need of the hour," he said and assured the minorities that BJP has always treated them equally, protected their rights and worked for their upliftment.

PTI