Former Union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s recent comments blaming his own party for the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the riots and violence faced by Muslims under its governance in the past, have kicked off a controversy of sorts.

The remarks not only seem strange coming from a leader like Khurshid but also appear difficult to be justified. And, thus, he has tried to make amends.

The unseemly remarks against the Congress were attributed to the party stalwart during his recent visit to Aligarh Muslim University. And the blemishes that have reportedly been cited by him from the Congress days paint the entire party with the same brush, by saying that “Congress’ hands are stained with the blood of Muslims”, though Khurshid has claimed to have been quoted out of context.

He also took some of the blame upon himself for what Muslims faced during the Congress years since he has been a Congressman for long.

Khurshid was speaking before a young group of students at the annual function of the BR Ambedkar Hall of the university. A question was posed to him by a former student of the university about riots and the raw deal that Muslims have got since the time the Congress has been in power and Narendra Modi, or the BJP, was yet to take over the reins of the country.

Among the impugned incidents of riots that were reflected upon were those of Meerut, Maliana and Hashimpura. These riots took place way back in 1987. According to Khurshid, it was the questioner before him who said “there is blood on your clothes because of Babri Masjid and riots” and he (Khurshid) was only answering the question.

Whatever the case may be, the question raised at the meeting and the controversy it has given way to needs to be examined a bit more closely. Thus, when one considers the 1987 riots in Meerut and nearby areas, what is to be remembered is that Vir Bahadur Singh was then the Congress chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. He has since passed away. His son Fateh Bahadur Singh is now a BJP MLA. He comes from Gorakhpur or the district that also happens to be the hometown of Yogi Adityanath, who is the CM of the state now.

Not just this, but much water has flown down the Sarju river on whose banks the poor Babri Masjid once stood. It was during the tenure of the late PV Narasimha Rao as PM of the country that the 16^th century mosque was pulled down by a frenzied Hindutva mob in December 1992.

The first ever BJP government to be formed after independence was in place in UP and Kalyan Singh was CM. It was under his stewardship of the state that the old structure was so wantonly razed, despite his and his party bosses’ promises to the Congress higher-ups in Delhi that they would save the mosque at all costs.

The Muzaffarnagar riots that took place in 2013 were also mentioned in the Aligarh exchange that Khurshid had with students at a hostel function last Sunday, April 22 to be exact. At the time of these riots, UP was under the governance of Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav.

The Hindutva brigade blamed the young chief minister and one of his cabinet colleagues who happened to be a Muslim, through the deadly riots that took place in September 2013 amid the declaration of Modi as BJP’s candidate for the post of PM.

So to blame the entire Congress party for all such gruesome incidents that have dogged Muslims through recent history, or since the 1980s, can at best be oversimplification of a process of deep communalisation that was resorted to mainly by powerful, highly parochial, conservative and bigoted sections of the society to corner power at the cost of the peace, prosperity, safety and security of common Hindus and Muslims.

The Congress, and more so certain individual leaders in the Congress like the late Narasimha Rao and Vir Bahadur Singh, can well be blamed for not resisting enough and thwarting such sinister moves to divide the society, as sadly is the case today. This is so though they were bound to simply go by the oath of office and uphold the law to tackle the turbulent past in a better and more humane way.

It is no wonder that the words spoken by Khurshid in Aligarh have been disowned by the Congress as his personal views and the BJP has lapped them up as an admission of guilt on the part of the Congress.

Yet, when Anil Baluni, the BJP spokesman, dealt with what Khurshid had said, he forgot that the BJP has always been blaming the Congress for Muslim appeasement. In the light of this, the accusation about the Congress as a party having its hands smeared with blood seems far-fetched.

The turn of events discussed here so far has somehow driven the Congress to powerlessness and brought Modi and BJP to the top. So much so, that the current ruling dispensation at the Centre often swears to drive the party out of the confines of the country with the fervent wish to have its way with both politics and history as per its whims and fancies.