BJP said the ruling party misused intelligence agencies to keep the writer away from the country in view of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Accusing Congress of deliberately giving communal colour to the Salman Rushdie episode, BJP today said the ruling party "misused" intelligence agencies to keep the writer away from the country in view of the upcoming Assembly elections.
BJP general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that 'The Satanic Verses' author was misinformed by Rajasthan Police about death threats to his life, forcing him to cancel his participation in the Jaipur Literature Festival.
"...Congress is deliberately giving a communal colour to this entire campaign and even misusing the intelligence agencies...This is being done in view of the coming Assembly elections," Prasad told reporters here.
He pointed out that Rushdie had visited India about six times in the last eight years, while his book was banned around 23 years ago.
Calling Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid's promise of providing 9% reservation to Muslims if Congress is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh as unconstitutional, Prasad said BJP opposed reservation on the basis of religion.
He also asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and its general secretary Rahul Gandhi to clear party's stand on Batla House encounter. "While Congress leader Digvijay Singh says the encounter was fake, Union Home Minister says it was not fake. Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi should tell people the truth."
Accusing Congress of sheltering the corrupt, he said the Prime Minister was defending Home Minister P Chidambaram in a scam, while no action had been taken against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit despite being indicted by the Shunglu Committee report.
Referring to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the central industrial package to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh was distorted policy, Prasad questioned why such doctrine of distortionwas not applied in case of Jammu and Kashmir and north eastern states.
He also dismissed the allegations of non-utilisation of central funds and said Congress during its rule spent Rs 585 crore while Rs 1,061 crore were spent by BJP during the last five years.
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