RJD chief Lalu Prasad has accused Narendra Modi and Amit Shah of pushing the country towards civil war by sowing the seeds of hatred and compared the BJP to British colonialists.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are pushing the country towards civil war. If that happens, Modi’s government will be responsible. What is happening (in Karnataka) is not just connected to elections, they (Modi and Shah) are continuously saying bad things… and sowing seeds of hatred,” Lalu told journalists at his residence in Patna on Wednesday when asked about the hijab row.

“Just understand. They are using Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Ram-Rahim to divide the country. It seems the British of yesteryears have come to our country after 75 years in the BJP’s guise. They just know how to spark riots. What they are doing indicates that they are taking the country towards civil war,” the former Bihar chief minister added.

Lalu pointed to widespread poverty, inflation, unemployment and other problems and accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states of being oblivious to them.

“The pertinent problems are not being discussed even for a single day, be it during the speeches of the Prime Minister or others. They are just engaged in Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura-Kashi. They have got addicted to these things, thinking they will get the votes of Hindus. But this time the Hindus also are not going to vote for them,” he said.

Lalu backed the Samajwadi Party for the Uttar Pradesh polls and predicted a BJP rout.