Terrorists being appeased in the name of secularism: Nitin Gadkari

Accusing Congress of playing votebank and appeasement politics on terrorism, BJP on Sunday said its leaders claim Sonia Gandhi had tears in her eyes after seeing pictures of terrorists killed in Batla House encounter but is silent on inspector Mohan Chand Sharma's death.

"It's very unfortunate that one of our ministers commenting on the Batla House encounter said that after seeing the bodies of terrorists, Soniaji had tears in her eyes," BJP President Nitin Gadkari said.

He was addressing a Mahshivratri Meet organised by Jammu and Kashmir Vichar Manch in Delhi.

Earlier this month, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid had reportedly said that pictures of Batla House encounter had brought tears to the eyes of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. However, later he maintained that he had only said Gandhi became "emotional".

"When I went to Uttarakahand, there I met an uncle of late Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma. He asked me a question that my son sacrificed his life for the country, he died fighting the terrorists then the leaders did not have tears in their eyes. But when terrorists die then tears come into their eyes," Gadkari said.

He alleged that for vote bank politics, terrorists and terrorism are being appeased in the name of secularism.

Gadkari charged that leaders are "going on a pilgrimage to Azamgarh to offer condolences to family members of terrorists, but they don't visit homes of those who fight terrorism and in the process sacrifice their lives".

He said this "distorted mentality" has raised a lots of questions for us and for the country.

Gadkari also praised the effort of Israel in fighting terrorism. "If we look at history, I got an opportunity to see the history of Israel very closely. I've visited the country five-six times. It's a small country, surrounded by all the Muslim countries but despite that the people of that country with courage are fighting terrorism."

An Israeli diplomat's car was made the target of an alleged terrorist attack here recently.

The BJP leader also took a dig at Pakistan, saying it "could not defeat us in battlefield, so it supported terrorists by launching a proxy war against us".

He appreciated the efforts of Kashmiri Pandit community in preserving its language, culture and traditions.

Addressing the community, Gadkari said, "I understand your pain. The region where your culture, history and language belong, you had to leave that place...still you people put in tremendous efforts to preserve them, I salute you."

He said BJP fully supports the Kashmiri Pandit community in its struggle to reclaim its lost land.