Rahul dents BJP claim on fighting terror

April 29, 2014 07:31 pm | Updated June 04, 2016 12:41 pm IST - Kashipur (Uttarakhand)

Bathinda: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi interacts with party supporters at an election rally in Bathinda on Monday. PTI Photo(PTI4_28_2014_000066b)

Bathinda: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi interacts with party supporters at an election rally in Bathinda on Monday. PTI Photo(PTI4_28_2014_000066b)

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tore into BJP’s claims of being tough on terror as he raked up the ‘Kandahar hijack’ in which three terrorists were freed by the Vajpayee government and claimed that 22,000 people were killed in terror attacks during the six-year NDA rule.

Taking on the opposition party which has accused the Congress government of being soft on terror, he said the then top functionaries of the BJP government, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, bowed to the wishes of hijackers while Congress always stood up to terrorists.

“Kandahar hijack happened. Their top leaders from number one to five saluted them (hijackers), asked them what do you want. Money was given to them. Terrorists were released and Jaswant Singh (then External Affairs Minister) went with them to Pakistan,” he said addressing a public meeting here.

The Congress vice president was referring to the hijack of Indian Airlines plane in December 1999 during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi. It was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan and three dreaded terrorists were freed in exchange of the passengers held hostage in the aircraft for about eight days.

Jaswant Singh had gone along with the freed terrorists to Kandahar, which became a matter of huge controversy. Among the freed terrorists was Masood Azhar, who later floated Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit in Pakistan and it carried out a number of attacks in India.

The same terrorists, Mr Gandhi said, carried out numerous attacks in India including the one on Parliament in 2001.

He said 22,000 people, including soldiers, lost their lives in terror violence during the Vajpayee government between 1998 and 2004 because “BJP bowed to the wishes of terrorists and it also practised the politics of anger”.

On the contrary, only 800 such deaths occurred during the five years of UPA-II regime, he said, crediting the Congress’ politics of “brotherhood and harmony” for the sharp decline.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.