Mangaluru:  BJP leaders on Saturday accused legislator U T Khader of provoking his community to unleash violence.

BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said that Khader had declared that Karnataka will be engulfed in flames if the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was implemented. “The next day, violence broke out and those involved in the arson faces carried out a ‘Kashmiri-style’ act of violence. Thus, the Congress is responsible for the violence,” he told reporters at Circuit House.

He said that the investigation should also find who incited the mob and who went on a rampage. He urged the Congress not to mislead people without studying the Act.

MP Shobha Karandlaje also accused Khader of making a provocative speech near the DC’s office on Wednesday. “Within 24 hours, violence broke out and a mob targeted the Bunder police station, which is in a sensitive place,” she said.

She also demanded a ban on PFI, which she suspected to have been behind the violence in Bunder.