NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Tuesday came under attack from the Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta on his statement regarding communal violence in parts of the country on the grounds that statistics did not show that such incidents have come down.

Mr. Dasgupta described the statement as "innocent catalogue" of a grave national problem. He said the Home Minister had "soft-pedalled" the issue and not taken it in the proper perspective. He also said Mr. Patil was using his wisdom and experience to "scuttle him".

This led to a prompt intervention from Mr. Patil who said the situation arising out of communal violence in different parts of the country would require a larger discussion. He said the statement mentioned only a few major incidents since the subject was expanded after the calling attention motion was admitted on the situation in Vadodara. The Government was ready for a discussion under a different rule.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who intervened, said that it was not proper for members to make personal accusations. Considering the importance of the issue and the demand by members, he was converting the motion into a discussion under Rule193 that did not entail voting. The discussion has been scheduled for Thursday.

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