New Delhi: The BJP on Monday went hammer and tongs against a ‘weak’ Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for his remark on ‘Hindu’ terror made at the Chintan Shivir in Jaipur last week.
An angry BJP slammed Shinde for ‘insulting’ Hindus and Hindustan and announced a nationwide agitation on January 24.
While BJP president Nitin Gadkari termed Shinde’s comment as an insult to Hindu Gods and Hindustan, party spokesperson and MP Ravishankar Prasad sought an apology from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The BJP also demanded the sacking of Shinde for making such insulting remarks and said such statements would only strengthen the hands of forces across the border.
Prasad pointed out that while Hindus are branded as terrorists, Congress leader Digvijay Singh addressed Mumbai terror mastermind Hafeez Sayed as ‘Hafeez Sahib'.
Earlier, Digvijay Singh defended Shinde saying that the Union Minister has said nothing new and what he stated was a well known fact. Sangh outfits were involved in training terror groups, he said and added that he has been the same thing for the past 11 years.
But Prasad was quick to point out that it was Digvijay Singh who cast a doubt over the Batla encounter while his government honoured the slain policeman with an Ashok Chakra.     
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) spokesperson Ram Madhav said on Monday that the Home Minister’s comment on Hindu terror have made “real terrorists” like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) very happy, and added that they have welcomed it.
“Today, Jamat ud Dawa etc. congratulated Shinde. Now, he has become the darling of real terrorists. It is Shinde who is helping our enemies by such statements. Now, even the LeT has welcomed his statement I am told,” Madhav tweeted.
“Shinde says what he said abt Hindu terror is what was reported in media. Then he shud b a news reader, not home minister of India,” he added.
On Sunday, Shinde alleged that the training camps run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were promoting Hindu terrorism. He also alleged that the RSS and the BJP were behind the Samjhauta Express, Meccca Masjid and Malegaon blasts.
Later, defending himself, Shinde said that he didn’t say anything new and only spoke about saffron terrorism which has already been talked about many a times in newspapers.
In Jaipur, Shinde stoked a major controversy on Sunday by accusing BJP and RSS of fanning Hindu terrorism, a charge which drew angry reaction from both of them.
“Reports have come during investigation that BJP and RSS conduct terror training camps to spread terrorism...Bombs were planted in Samjhauta express, Mecca Masjid and also a blast was carried out in Malegaon.
“We will have to think about it seriously and will have to remain alert,” he said at the AICC meeting.
As his remarks were slammed by RSS and BJP which termed them as “dangerous” and accused Congress of indulging in “destructive politics”, Shinde stuck to his stand, saying, “This has come so many times in the papers... It is not a new thing that I have said today.
“This is saffron terrorism that I have talked about. It is the same thing and nothing new. It has come in the media several times,” the Home Minister said.
To a question if it was Hindu terrorism or saffron terrorism, he said, “This is saffron terrorism (that) I have stated.”