Rights groups 'overground face' of terrorists: BJP

NEW DELHI; The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday charged that some human rights organisations were acting as the "overground face" of terrorist groups.

"Some of the human rights organisations are bringing a bad name to human rights and have become the overground faces of terrorists," BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley said while addressing a seminar on terrorism, organised by the party's intellectual cell.

He said such organisations showcase a terrorist to the world as if he is a most victimised person in the world.

Jaitley also expressed concern over Bangladeshi migrants who turn into "sleeper cells" of terrorists in the country. "But the biggest sleeper cell in the country is in North Block, which is sleeping on the issue of terrorism," Jaitley said, mocking the government.

"The new trend is to bring any perceptional equality between Hindu organisations and terrorists. Equating the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is nothing but a well-planned conspiracy," he said.

"Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi did not believe in blind secularism and never compromised on nationalism," said Jaitley while accusing the Congress party of "losing direction" under Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.