Shinde backtracks

Backtracking on his controversial ‘Hindu terror’ remark, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday said his views — that terrorism has no colour — were similar to that of his party. “There is no colour to any terrorism … My thought is the same as party’s [Congress] line,” he told journalists.

At the Congress’ Jaipur conclave last month, he accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of promoting “Hindu terrorism” through training camps. These remarks were rejected by the Congress, while the BJP launched a scathing attack on Mr. Shinde and announced they would boycott him inside and outside Parliament.

As a face-saving exercise, Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi had said that “terrorism should not be linked with any religion . Congress does not see any connect between terrorism and any religion. The party had earlier also made it clear that terror has no religion or colour. The Congress never uses word like saffron terror or Hindu terror.”