Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Saturday conceded that deadly sectarian riots in western Gujarat state in 2002 contributed to his Hindu nationalist party's defeat in recent national polls.
The ousted premier's comments mark the first time that a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has acknowledged the unrest played a role in the party's surprise loss in the April-May election.
"It is very difficult to say what are all the reasons for the defeat in the elections ... but one impact of the violence was we lost the elections," he told reporters on arriving in the northern Himalayan resort of Manali.
"The riots were an emotional issue that people could take advantage of. That is what our opponents did, they took advantage of it, but I don't blame them. This is politics."
More than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the February 2002 riots, with human rights groups accusing the BJP-led Gujarat state government of turning a blind eye to the violence.
The unrest was triggered by the burning of a train compartment in which 59 Hindu activists and pilgrims were killed.