Cong-NCP divided over Hemant Karkare receiving threats from Hindu fundamentalists

The Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are at loggerheads over the controversial debate on slain Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare receiving threats from Hindu fundamentalists. 

On Sunday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh reiterated that he was not going to take back his remarks and that he enjoyed the blessings of party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi.  

The state home department, which is headed by the NCP, has dismissed Singh’s charge that Karkare was receiving threats from Hindu radicals. Home minister RR Patil has confirmed that Karkare became a martyr valiantly fighting the Pakistani terrorists during 26/11. 

Even NCP president Sharad Pawar in an interview to a private television channel has expressed surprise over the debate being raked up in the Congress related to Karkare’s martyrdom.

Refusing to join the debate, he said, “It has been internationally reckoned that 26/11 was a terrorist attack. And our top officers laid down lives fighting them.”

The Centre’s decision to allow Singh to keep the debate going without seeking an explanation has led to some confusion among the members in Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).

A senior MPCC functionary said, “In Maharashtra, it will go against the party’s interest if we link the 26/11 terrorist attack with Hindu radicals. How can we question the possibility of Hindu radicals behind the death of Karkare?”

However, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre have refused to speak on the issue.  

What makes the matter complicated for the Congress is that senior police officers have categorically dismissed any information related to threats from Hindu radicals to Karkare. They have also refused the claims made by Singh that Karkare had a telephone conversation with him a day before he died. 

Patil, who had a long discussion with Karkare 24 hours before he died, has never heard Karkare mentioning Singh.

According to political managers in the Congress, it is a desperate attempt within the party to provoke the right-wing BJP, RSS and their allies by talking about the threats received by Karkare from Hindu terrorists.

The Congress feels the debate will polarise the Hindus and Muslims and thus split the NDA. It also hopes the allies like RJD, LJS et al, who are disenchanted with the Congress after the Bihar elections, will also rally around Congress over the issue of Hindu terrorism.