Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde accused key Hindu nationalist groups, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of promoting terrorism at their training camps.
Shinde said an investigation by government agencies revealed involvement of Hindus in the bombing of a Pakistan-bound train that killed 68 passengers in 2007 and an explosion in a crowded market in western India’s Malegaon town that killed seven people in 2008. At a meeting of the ruling Congress party in the western Indian city of Jaipur on Sunday, Shinde accused main opposition BJP and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of blaming minority Muslims for these bombings. BJP spokesman Mukhtar Naqvi demanded an apology from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for Shinde’s “baseless and provocative charges”.
“Their (Congress’) destructive mindset is reflected in the statement of the home minister. The statement is highly objectionable. It is not only unacceptable but also dangerous,” Naqvi said while talking to media personnel. Such statements, said Naqvi, amount to giving the real terrorists a clean chit. Shinde’s statement has given “oxygen” to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, he said.
“They have also strengthened anti-India terrorist groups,” he added. “Sometimes I feel Congress has become a group of cowards because terror strikes are repeatedly happening in the country and terrorists are mushrooming here,” he said. “Pakistani troops are beheading our jawans and our prime minister takes too long to respond to that. Our government thinks repeatedly before giving any reaction to such incidents. A warning to Pakistan is given only when the nation is agitated, which is equivalent to an empty warning, leading to ridicule,” Naqvi said.
BJP promoting terrorism, says Indian home minister
