BENGALURU: BJP national president Amit Shah has accused AICC president Rahul Gandhi of defaming Hindus and India by using the term “Hindu terror” and “saffron terror” in the aftermath of Mecca Masjid blast case. Shah has exhorted the people of Karnataka to punish Rahul and the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly election if the Congress leadership refuses to tender an apology for insulting Hindus and India.
Addressing a convention of BJP Shakthi Kendra Pramukhs here on Wednesday, Shah called upon the party rank and file to make it a poll issue.
His attack comes in the backdrop of an NIA court acquitting all the accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case in Hyderabad. The BJP has also demanded an apology from former ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and P Chidambaram for allegedly using the term “saffron terror” for the blast.
Citing a 2009 telegram, exchanged allegedly between then US Ambassador to India Tim Roemer and US State Department, Shah said that Rahul had told the US envoy about the presence of Hindu terror and saffron terror in the country. Congress has been defaming Hindus over the years by misleading people about presence of Hindu terror. The acquittal of the accused by the court in the Mecca Masjid blast case for lack of evidence has exposed Congress’ lies, he said.
Shah, who is on a two-day visit to the state, instructed his party workers to take the issue to the people during their campaign and “explain how Congress has slapped false cases against innocent people and sent them to jail in the name of Hindu terror. “Make Rahul apologise or convey the message that the people of the state would not forgive him,” Shah said.
Attacking the Siddaramaiah government, Shah said law and order in the state has collapsed and the government has turned a blind eye to the murder of RSS and BJP activists. He assured that the killers will be punished even if they are “hiding in paatal (underground) once the BJP comes to power.