There was pandemonium in the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Monday as the opposition Congress protested over the reported attack on former Chief Minister and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh by activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
The house was adjourned twice as Congress MLAs shouted slogans against the alleged attack on Mr. Singh, demanding a discussion on the issue. The issue is likely to be discussed in the assembly on Tuesday afternoon.
On his way to Ujjain from Indore on Sunday, Mr. Singh and his supporters clashed with BJYM activists protesting against his statements on the possible involvement of Hindu terror groups in the recent Mumbai blasts.
While the Congress has condemned the “attack”, the BJYM claims its activists were protesting peacefully against Mr. Singh's statements when his supporters attacked them.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan later accused Digvijay Singh of “spreading lawlessness across the State” and said that the AICC general scretary was advised by senior officials against visiting Ujjain since there were protests against him there but he paid no heed to them.
PTI, New Delhi adds:
Slamming Digvijay Singh for his anti-RSS remarks, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accused him of “trying to communalise” the fight against terror and alleged that the Congress was using him for diversionary tactics as it was under attack over the Mumbai bombings.
“It is very unfortunate that Digvijay Singh is deliberately trying to provoke and seeking to change the entire investigation into the Mumbai serial blasts. It is BJP’s charge that he is deliberately trying to communalise the fight against terror for petty political gains,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He was reacting to Mr. Singh’s comment yesterday that “RSS was spreading terrorism in the country and it has been making bomb factories.” The Congress general secretary had earlier courted controversy when he said that he does not rule out the involvement of Sangh in Mumbai serial blasts.
“We all know whom the SIT and the NIA are interrogating in the terror attack case,” Mr. Prasad said and claimed that such statements from Mr. Singh were denting India’s image on the international stage.
“His utterances must also be gladdening the hearts of terrorists, and notably the ISI,” Mr. Prasad said.
Demanding an apology from Congress leadership, Mr. Prasad said, “There is a legitimate suspicion to infer that Digvijay Singh is speaking the language of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi... The intention behind his speaking is help the government which is getting implicated in scandal after scandal and is not able to shed off its image of being soft on terror.”
“Singh’s comments are unfortunate and condemnable. Congress should apologise. What is it that whenever the issue of terror or corruption comes up, Singh becomes very active... It appears that he is giving relief to the Congress from attacks on these issues (by diverting attention),” Mr. Prasad said.
