Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Monday said the violence against Hindi-speaking migrant workers in the state was a “planned conspiracy” of the Congress, PTI reported. Rupani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adiyanath held a joint press conference in Lucknow during which they blamed the Congress for the unrest in the state.

Violence broke out against migrant workers in six districts of Gujarat following the arrest of a Bihar native for the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district on September 28. The violence led to an exodus of more than 60,000 Hindi-speaking people. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had earlier blamed Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and his outfit, the Kshatriya-Thakor Sena, for the violence. Thakor had refuted the allegations against him.

Rupani said there was “complete peace” in Gujarat now. “It was a planned conspiracy of [a] Congress MLA,” Rupani said. “Elections are slated in four states and the [Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel] ‘Statue of Unity’ is all set to be unveiled [on October 31]... therefore, the Congress tried to create problems, but the Gujarat government foiled all such efforts.” Rupani was in Uttar Pradesh to invite his counterpart for the unveiling of the statue.

The Gujarat chief minister assured all people residing in the state of security and said his government will take legal action against Thakor. “More than 700 people have been arrested, of whom more than 50 are Congress workers,” Rupani said. “Over 100 people were spreading instigating messages on social media and many of them were from the Congress party.”

The Congress, on the other hand, has claimed that BJP leaders, under the guidance of the party’s National President Amit Shah and Rupani, actively instigated and provoked violence against migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The Gujarat chief minister played down the protests by Congress workers against him in Lucknow. “It is a case of ‘a thief calling for action against the police’,” Rupani said.