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Pak masterminded Godhra mayhem:
BJP chief

"There is an ISI hand. The home ministry issued a statement on this issue in Delhi on Sunday," BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy told reporters in Ahmedabad.

"The on-going fight against terrorism has put Pakistan in a tight spot and its ISI is totally cornered. These factors were responsible for the pre-meditated and well-planned attack in Godhra," Krishnamurthy, who went around the Sola civil hospital, where injured victims were being treated, said.

The BJP's 'good track record' ever since it assumed power at the Centre vis-a-vis the protection of Muslims, might have spurred its opponents to indulge in a 'most reprehensible act', he said.

The BJP chief condemned the Godhra mayhem and the subsequent violence, which has so far claimed about 480 lives.

Krishnamurthy said the violence that followed the Godhra incident was an 'outpouring of the people's anguish', but maintained, "We don't justify the fallout."

Taking strong exception to allegations that BJP workers were involved in the post-Godhra violence that swept through Gujarat, Krishnamaurthy said, "Now that a few Congress functionaries have been arrested in connection with Godhra incident, does that mean all Congressmen, or party president Sonia Gandhi, can be held responsible for it."

Countering accusations from the Congress about the 'delayed deployment' of the army, the BJP chief pointed to the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984.

PTI

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