New Delhi: Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee tonight (Jul 21, 2004) alleged that the previous NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government had attempted to divide the country on religious lines, which had led to its ouster in the Parliamentary elections.

"An attempt to divide the country on the basis of religion and bigotry was made and the people at the first chance provided to them chose to exercise their right unequivocally and voted the Government out just as they had voted out Indira Gandhi after the emergency," he said at a reception organised by the Bar Council of India in New Delhi.

Asked for his reaction, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was present at the function, said he had come to the function to see Somnath Babu but added "I have my respectful disagreements on his reading of the verdict."

Chatterjee in a lighter vein said he has lost his freedom of speech inside the House and said all that he could say there now was "please go to your seats or sit down".