Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday accused the “tukde tukde gang” of defaming the Narendra Modi-led government after a British MP last week expressed concerns over the recent demolition drives carried out by Bharatiya Janata Party-led administrations in various parts of India.

The BJP uses the phrase “tukde tukde gang” to label its Opposition as a gang that wants to divide the country.

On April 28, United Kingdom MP Nadia Whittome had questioned in the British Parliament if Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent visit to India had helped legitimise the demolitions.

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Whittome had pointed out that during his visit to India, Johnson was photographed with a digger at a Vadodara factory of the heavy-construction equipment manufacturer JCB. This was just a day after a BJP-run civic body carried out a demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. Shops and houses, owned mostly by Muslims were bulldozed despite a stay order by the Supreme Court.

On Sunday, Rijiju said that Whittome was unaware of the reality, but added that he did not blame the British MP.

“It’s the result of the negative campaigns launched by the Tukde-Tukde gang whose only aim is to discredit the huge achievements of the Narendra Modi Government,” Rijiju wrote in a tweet. “India believes in rule of law.”

Demolitions have taken place in several Indian states in the first two weeks of April after communal clashes broke out on the Hindu festivals of Navratri and Ram Navami.

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Hindutva outfits organised rallies in which armed participants shouted abusive, provocative slogans, as they passed by mosques or through Muslim-dominated areas in some states. Violence was reported in five states.

On April 11, the homes and properties of alleged rioters in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh were razed. In Gujarat, too, the Anand district administration on April 15 razed the homes of those it alleged were to blame for violence on Ram Navami.