'Cong disgraced Hindus by coining saffron terror'

With the Lok Sabha poll campaign heating up, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday sought to milk political dividends of the Samjhauta Express train blast case verdict, accusing the Congress of "smearing" Hindus by implicating innocent people in the case during its regime.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, senior BJP leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley alleged that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government coined the term “saffron terror” and made the “wrong set of people” accused in the case only for “political gains.”

“Congress disgraced the entire Hindu community by coining Hindu terror theory. This has happened for the first time in history. Who will take the responsibility? It rests with the leadership of the Congress. The society will never forgive them,” he said.

Replying to a question, he also took a dig at Congress leaders including its president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi over their temple visits, saying those who believed Hindus to be terrorists are now busy showing their dedication to the religion.

“After the court's verdict in the case, it is an opportunity for them to now apologise to the society. I fail to understand why they are not apologising,”

A special court in Panchkula on Wednesday acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the Samjhauta train blast case which had left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead in 2007. The blast in the train took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when it was on its way to Attari in Amritsar.

“I definitely accuse them (Congress) of tarnishing the image of the Hindu community by creating a bogus theory of Hindu terror. They did it only for their political gains. That's why the Congress has not come out with any statement after the court's verdict,” Jaitley said.

Reading parts of the court's verdict, which was released in its entirety on Thursday, the Union minister said the court, while acquitting the accused, noted that it was a case of “no evidence.”

The investigation into the case was carried out between 2007 and 2009 when the UPA was in power, he said.

“They coined the theory of Hindu terror and instituted 3-4 such cases for political gains. None of these cases could stand the scrutiny of the court. Innocent people were killed in the blast but the investigators did not go for the real culprits,” he added.

When asked about the then home secretary and now BJP leader RK Singh who had echoed the 'Hindu terror' during the UPA regime, Jaitley said it is not important what the bureaucrats said as “such decisions are taken at a political level.”