There is hope that the new set of war of words will break the parliamentary logjam
A new set of war of words has broken out between the government and the Congress making the prospects of breaking parliamentary logjam further bleak. Even as the Congress on Saturday flayed Home Minister Rajnath Singh for accusing ex-UPA home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde coining the term "Hindu terrorism," the BJP stood by its Home Minister, saying the Congress had weakened India's resolve against terrorism by coining a new term of "Hindu terrorism." Union minister and BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad pulled out a foreign newspaper report to assert that even Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had talked of "Hindu terrorism" as more dangerous than Islamic terrorism during a chat with the American ambassador during a reception in 2010.
"The comment of the then Home Minister (Shinde) is being quoted out of context. It is a deliberate attempt for various reasons to divide the country to seeking debate on two religions and thus divert the people's attention from its failure to effectively counter the threat of terrorism," said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at a Press conference at the AICC headquarters here. He was reacting to Rajnath Singh's outburst in the Lok Sabha on Friday without any provocation to assert that the term "Hindu terrorism" coined during the previous UPA government had weakened the fight against the scourge by diverting the direction of probe into the incidents of terrorism.
Azad asserted that the BJP has a reason to be worried that the NIA (National Investigation Agency) has come to conclusion in its investigation in the Malegaon blast, Mecca Masjid blast, Samjhauta Express blast and Ajmer blast that those involved in every case had some direct or indirect association with the ruling party or RSS. "The BJP is worried as to where that trail will lead to. That is why the NIA has been directed to go slow as divulged by the NIA's own lawyer. Should not the Media make this an issue? Should not the Supreme Court take notice of this," Azad asked.
Nailing Rajnath Singh's "lie" that Shinde referred to "Hindu terrorism" in the Lok Sabha, he said the former HM was being quoted "out of context" on his speech in the party forum on secularism in Jaipur where he tried to explain to the Congress workers that those involved in some of the blasts were not Muslims to dub it an "Islamic terrorism." Azad quoted Shinde then say: "Will you call it Hindu terrorism? We should not call it Islamic terrorism, Muslim terrorism, Christian terrorism, Sikh terrorism, nor Hindu terrorism."
He said the Home Minister can not run away abusing the Congress and pretend to be ready to debate terrorism in Parliament in the context of the Gurdaspur terror attack. "We would like to have a comprehensive debate and not just pick up one issue for debate as it won't serve purpose. We would like to go into the genesis of the whole problem since the BJP came to power to know what concrete steps they have taken to see that terrorism ends," he said. Azad said Prime Minister Modi has to be part of the debate as he alone can answer questions on his meetings with the heads of the neighbouring countries' governments regarding the foreign-aided and abetted terrorism which the Home Minister alone may not be competent to answer.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, insisted that the Congress looked at terrorism from the angle of religion and that weakened fight against terrorism. He insisted that the BJP never dubbed the Muslims as terrorists. "Our Prime Minister has clearly said that Muslims are patriots. Talks of Hindu terror and saffron terror weakens country's resolve against terrorism," he said.
Prasad asserted that talks of Hindu terror and saffron terror weakens the resolve against terrorism. He said not only Shinde had expressed concern over "Hindu terror," but another senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had also spoken about "saffron terror" during his tenure as the union home minister. Congress leader and former home minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram asserted that the BJP was resorting to "a completely diversionary argument." He said Shinde didn't use the phrase "Hindu terror" in the manner Rajnath Singh quoted. "Better to call them the right-wing extremist groups, some of whom have been charged in several bomb blast cases," he added.
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