Mecca Masjid verdict gives BJP new ammunition against Congress

The BJP is planning to paint the Congress as "anti-Hindu" by latching on to the latest Mecca Masjid bomb blast case verdict, acquitting Hindutva activists, while seeking to put the top UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the line of fire.

Apart from focussing on the alleged attacks on Hindutva cadre, the saffron party will raise the "Congress-defaming Hindu" pitch more prominently by arguing that its opponent's efforts during the UPA regime to raise the issue of "saffron terror" had come to nought with the latest court verdict.

For the second consecutive day, the BJP trained its guns at the Congress, especially at party chief Rahul and Sonia, saying they should apologise for defaming Hindus "globally". It cited a United States cable made public by 'WikiLeaks,' which purportedly quotes Rahul telling the then US ambassador that saffron terror was a bigger threat than the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

'Cong anti-Hindu'

"Of course, we will raise these issues during the Karnataka campaign. We will tell people how the Congress is trying to prove that there is saffron terror and how it defamed the whole Hindu community," a senior leader said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had earlier raised the issue of murders of Hindutva activists in the state and accused the Siddaramaiah government of targeting them.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress party was taking the Hindu community for granted. "If Congress considers India to be its own, then Sonia and Rahul must apologise to the whole country for defaming the great Hindu religion by trying to prove there was something called saffron terror," he said.

Referring to the US cable, Patra said this showed the mindset of Rahul towards Hindus. "His party has always taken Hindus for granted," he said.