- BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded apologies from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi following the Malegaon blast acquittals.
- Prasad called for compensation for the acquitted, including Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, alleging false charges and torture.
- He cited a Wikileaks report claiming Rahul Gandhi once said Hindu extremist groups were more dangerous than LeT.
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 31st July: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Congress, asserting that the opposition party “manufactured” the theory of “Hindu terror” during its time in power. This, the BJP claimed, was done to impede the rise of Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, and to appease its Muslim voters. The strong condemnation came as the BJP welcomed the acquittal of all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference, where he demanded that the discharged accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, should be compensated for their suffering. He also called for an apology from the prosecution, alleging that torture was used and evidence was planted to frame them. “The Congress can go to any extent to appease its vote bank. This case was a well-calculated conspiracy of the party for sheer vote bank politics,” Prasad stated, terming it a “historic day.”
Prasad asserted that the Congress’s attempt to force the narrative of “Hindu terror” or “saffron terrorism” has completely failed. Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s earlier dismissal of questions about the court verdict as a distraction from “real issues” (referencing US President Donald Trump’s critical comments on the Indian economy), Prasad hit back sharply.
He reiterated the claim that, according to a Wikileaks disclosure from 2010, Rahul Gandhi had told the then US ambassador that “extremist Hindu groups can be more dangerous than the terror outfit LeT.” Prasad contended that Gandhi’s claim has now fallen flat, and it is the Congress leader who is “running away from truth.” He vociferously demanded that both Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who are former Congress presidents, should “apologise to the country.”
Nearly 17 years after the Malegaon blast claimed six lives, a special court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused, including Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, noting there was “no reliable and cogent evidence” against them.
Prasad lauded Purohit as a “brave and decorated officer who fought terrorism in Kashmir” and hailed Thakur as a ‘sant’, highlighting that both suffered for 17 years due to false charges. He reiterated the demand for their compensation.
The BJP leader also cited several past cases where, he alleged, the then Congress-led UPA government attempted to cover up the roles of suspected Muslim accused and terror organizations. He specifically referred to the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case (where she was a suspected LeT operative), the 2007 Makkah Masjid blast case, and the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast. “The Congress can go to any extent in its vote bank politics,” Prasad concluded.
