Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Sunday claimed it was the 2002 Gujarat riots that led to the formation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).
“Indian Mujahideen was formed after the Gujarat riots, says NIA in its chargesheet. Even now BJP and RSS will not desist from their communal politics?” Mr Ahmed said on the microblogging site Twitter. Later, he also blamed the “communal politics of the BJP for the chain reaction” on the issue of terror.
“This (2002 riots) was the reason behind the creation of Indian Mujahideen. If they forsake their communal politics, outfits like IM will cease to exist,” he said. “So, the communal politics of BJP has led to a chain reaction. They should give up such politics,” Mr Ahmed said.
“The main source of communalism in the country is the RSS and BJP,” he alleged, adding, “Those who want to stop communal politics should build pressure on the BJP and RSS.”
Hitting back, the BJP said the remarks were “stupid” and “reprehensible” as the Pakistan links of such outfits were well known. The BJP alleged it was the “desperate” Congress that was actually trying to communalise the political scenario and playing with national security as it had “no answers for all the wrongs” it had done.
The BJP said it was well known that Pakistan has been aiding and abetting terror outfits active in India. “There is this competition among the various Congress spokespersons and leaders to deliberately communalise the country’s political scenario because they have no answer to stinking corruption, malgovernance, price-rise, unemployment, the general sense of suffering the people of India are having (sic),” BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad said.
“Why are they playing with national security? Is it not a fact that IM has links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfits... Is it not a fact that much before 2002 there was Simi with designs to usher in terrorist attacks in India? These are all too well known,” he said, adding, “This competitive politics for vote banks, to deliberately stoke communalism, is reprehensible.”
Mr Prasad said there has been peace in Gujarat for the last 10 years.
“The growth rate of Muslims in Gujarat is the best in the country. We all know...” Mr Prasad said. BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu was also dismissive of the charge.