Unnerved by the Sangh Parivar’s frontal attack on Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde for saying that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had set up terror camps, Congress general secretary and media chairperson Janardan Dwivedi on Tuesday hastened to distance the party from the remarks.
Interestingly, it came on a day when External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid — like party colleagues Digvijaya Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Rajiv Shukla before him — defended Mr. Shinde.
“The party clarified its position long ago,” Mr. Dwivedi said, “that terrorism should not be linked to any religion, and that expressions such as saffron terror should not be used.” How could the Congress, he continued, object to kesariya (saffron), a colour that is found in both Congress and national flags?
Mr. Dwivedi’s comments come in the wake of the controversy over Mr Shinde’s remarks who, while addressing the AICC session in Jaipur on Sunday, accused the BJP and the RSS of conducting terror training camps and promoting “Hindu terrorism.” The BJP and the RSS demanded an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the remarks, andcalled for the sacking of Mr. Shinde.
But even as Mr. Dwivedi sought to disassociate the Congress from Mr. Shinde’s comments, Mr. Khurshid endorsed the line taken by his Cabinet colleague. Asked whether the Home Minister had given a handle to anti-India propaganda in Pakistan at a press conference, he said: “Our stated position, shared fully by the Home Minister and the past Home Minister, is based entirely on facts the investigative agencies have made available to the Government … I think we should not be looking at finer notions of what should be and can be said at any given time … There are elements who want to use some cover of pretence and some cover of allegations against other groups to continue with their nefarious and unwholesome activities.”
Pressed on the subject, he said he urged people “not to be distracted by commentary that comes from elsewhere which must be a self-serving commentary.”
The current controversy is a throwback to an almost identical one in 2010, when Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram — then Home Minister — while addressing a conference of DGPs and IGPs on August 25, 2010, said: “I wish to caution you that there is no let-up in the attempts to infiltrate militants into India. There is no let-up in the attempts to radicalise young men and women in India. Besides, there is the recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past.”
That reference to “saffron terrorism” set off a similar storm, with the BJP baying for Mr. Chidambaram’s blood. That episode, too, culminated in Mr. Dwivedi expressing the Congress’ disapproval of the expression “saffron terrorism.”
Keywords: Congress, Hindu terror, saffron terror, RSS, BJP, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Hindu extremism
While politicians proverbially used to deny the statements they made, Congress leaders, of late, menacingly do it, even to the extent of damaging the society. The latest one is the comments by the Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde about the main Opposition BJP which are duly distanced by party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi. In a comparable situation two years back, the then Home Minister Chidambaram’s words were disapproved by Dwivedi himself. A few months back, Union Minister Salman Khurshid threatened to kill Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal, and later, explained that he was ‘misquoted’. Former Minister Virbhadra Singh threatened media-men to break their cameras, and later, apologized. The Congress party did not accept the minister and the former minister on face values and expressed its displeasure over them and apologized to the people. In the latest controversy also, Khurshid is in the company of Shinde. The irresponsible and threatening words from Chidambaram, Khurshid, Virbhadra, Shinde and other leaders are indicative of the growth of an undemocratic and haughty mindset and egoism in them aided by their power of authority. Khurshid comparing himself to an ‘elephant’ and Kejriwal, a co-citizen, to an ‘ant’, is no different mindset, for it is in the basics of democracy that all citizens are equal. A greater tragedy is that the words of threat emanated when the so-called ‘leaders’ were charged with corruption. Congress should not stop with formal apology, but should show such people the door to exit. Can Rahul rise to the occasion?
Which Congress? RahulG? SibalG? ShindeG? SoniG? TiwariG? SoniaG?
ManmohanG? RenukaG? ChidamabaramG? Khurshed Saheb? DibvijayaG
If our home minister stand is correct as per the opinion of’ beloved' our External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, then why our so called home minister didn't act so far in this regard?
Mr Shinde's irresponsible and politically motivated statements have outraged many secular minded Hindus who otherwise were opposed to BJP because of its communual politics. It is already there in the news that people arrested in cases of Samjouta express, Malegaon and Mecca masjid blasts have or had links with RSS. But Mr Shinde has linked BJP with terror.Why this case is not being put on fast track in courts? My question is will the Home minister even bother to name the places where RSS is running terror camps for Hindus? I reckon he will never answer that question. How can people get away with such a serious allegations. Congress weakened secular fabric of the country in Shah Bano case and than tried to appease Hindus by doing Shilanays at Babri Masjid site and opened a can of worms. Now again Owaisi is facing charges and they are being compensated by raising bogey of hindu terror to appease muslims. My question remains - where are the training camps ? please publish the list.
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