Congress forged ‘Hindu terror’ for political gain: FM

New Delhi: Citing the Samjhauta train blast case judgment to assert that the probe focussed on establishing the Congress’s “political theory of Hindu terror,” the BJP on Friday accused the Opposition party of “smearing” Hindus on the basis of “forged” evidence for political benefits. The ruling party asserted that wrong set of people were “framed” by forging evidence and the entire Hindu community was “smeared”, something that happened for the first time in history.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, including its president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over their temple visits, senior BJP leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley said those who believed Hindus to be terrorists are now busy showing their dedication to the religion. In an apparent reference to Mrs Vadra’s visit to Ayodhya, Mr Jaitley said it is good that they visit temples and also acknowledge that it is the birthplace of Lord Ram.

Attacking the Congress over the Samjhauta blast verdict, Mr Jaitley said people cannot tolerate an entire community being labelled as terrorists.

Reading parts of the judgment slamming the National Investigation Agency for miserably failing to prove allegations against the accused - all of whom, including Swami Aseemanand, were acquitted - Mr Jaitley said the investigation was carried out between 2007-09 when the UPA was in power.

In its judgement, the court said it has to “conclude this judgment with deep pain and anguish as a dastardly act of violence remained unpunished for want of credible and admissible evidence. There are gaping oles in the prosecution evidence and an act of terrorism has remained unsolved.”

The blast in Samjhauta Express which travels between India and Pakistan took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007.

“Who will take accountability for this? It rests with the leadership of the Congress. The society will never forgive them,” the BJP leader, accompanied by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a press conference.

He said innocents were killed in the blast but investigators focussed not on real culprits but on establishing the political theory of Hindu terrorism, alleging that the Congress gave the slogan of

“Hindu terrorism” for its “vote bank” politics. He added that in other cases also evidence were forged to probe this theory, for political benefits.

The finance minister said the US state department kept telling India about terrorists involved in blasts and gave their names as well but that line of investigation was not pursued. There were reports that the US state department suspected terror outfit LeT’s role in the blasts.