×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

RS sees heated exchange over 2005 train blast

Last Updated 27 July 2017, 19:09 IST
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday witnessed stormy exchanges between BJP and Congress MP after MPs from the ruling party raised the issue of Samjhauta Express train blast of 2005.

During Zero Hour, BJP MP Shiv Pratap Shukla referred to a video of purported narco-test related to the train blast being shown on a TV channel and said the blast on Samjhauta Express took place because of involvement of Pakistan. The train plies between New Delhi and Lahore and was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba and SIMI jointly, he said.

He alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the then UPA government coined a new name "Hindu terrorism" and said the then UPA government had "betryaed" the country.

Another BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said the House has the right to know whether it is a "fact that there is a video" and demanded an explanation from the government.

Congress' Digvijay Singh intervened and said the BJP is trying to save the accused in the blast. Though Pakistan-based terrorists were initially blamed for the terror strike, NIA arrested several Hindutva activists for the blast, including Swami Aseemanand.

Singh's remarks resulted in a heated argument and another BJP MP La Ganesan demanded that Congress should publicly apologise for coining the term "Hindu terrorism".

Singh again intervened and said that there was a "collusion" between the government and the TV channel which has played out the video. He said the Ministry of Home Affairs should authenticate the points raised by BJP members.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said he would go through the records and if something has been quoted, it should be authenticated.
ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 27 July 2017, 14:08 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT