BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday asked Congress President Rahul Gandhi to “apologise to the nation” for defaming Hindu religion by coining the term “saffron terror”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said that the Gandhi scion has “insulted the nation” in the name of saffron terror two days after a Special NIA court acquitted all five accused in the Mecca Masjid Bomb blast case.
“By coining the term saffron terror, Rahul Gandhi has insulted the nation… He must apologise to the nation,” Shah said in his address to BJP workers in Bengaluru.
“The great Hindu culture which has been preaching love and peace for centuries was associated with terrorism by the Congress party… They (Congress) have committed a sin,” he added.
Following the NIA verdict, the BJP had on Monday too demanded apologies from Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
According to BJP, Congress leader and former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had in 2013 read out the term saffron terror while addressing the party’s Jaipur convention as the then party chief Sonia Gandhi, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul sat on the dias.
The BJP further said that the word “Hindu terror” was first used by former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram in 2010.
Shah said many Congress leaders including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were on record using the controversial term.
“For several years Congress defamed the country around the world by using term saffron terror. Rahul ji terror has no religion, now Congress says we never used these words. Many Congress leaders are on record using these terms including CM Siddaramaiah,” he said.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Nampally acquitted five of the eight Hindu activists accused of the May 18, 2007 bomb blast which killed nine persons and injured over 50 at the historic Mecca Mosque in Hyderabad during Friday prayers.