Make Shinde recall letter on Muslims: BJP

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should ask Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to withdraw his letter asking chief ministers not to arrest innocent Muslims on terror charges, the BJP said Tuesday.

"This letter is against the spirit of the constitution. The prime minister should direct him to withdraw the letter," BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

Shinde has told chief ministers to ensure that no innocent Muslim was arrested in the name of fighting terrorism.

Strict action should be taken against police officers making wrongful arrests of any member of a minority community, Shinde wrote.

Rajnath Singh accused the Congress party of adopting a "divide and rule policy".

"Let the courts decide who is guilty and who is not," the BJP president said. "Let the innocence be not determined on the basis of the community or religion of the accused.

"The Congress has historically been responsible for creating communal instability in the country," he added.