Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday seized on the court order in the Samjhauta blast case to accuse the Congress of “vilifying the entire Hindu community” and asked for an apology, reinforcing efforts led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to focus on polarising issues during the election campaign.
“For political gains, the entire Hindu community was vilified. Cases were filed based on fake evidence to create the theory of Hindu terror,” Jaitley told a news conference, a day after a Haryana court that acquitted the accused pointed out loopholes in the probe by the National Investigating Agency.
Swami Aseemanand, Kamal Chauhan, Rajinder Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma were acquitted on March 20.
“To tarnish the image of one community they didn’t go after the real culprits and framed a set of people. All the accused in the case have been acquitted by the court. Now who will take responsibility?” Jaitley asked. “The responsibility is clearly on the UPA government and the Congress,” he added.
Jaitley asked why the Congress was silent on the acquittals. “Those who considered Hindus as terrorists are now trying to prove their devotion to the religion,” he said in an oblique reference to party president Rahul Gandhi’s temple visits.
The finance minister also attacked the proposed Opposition alliance. “Today you have no ‘gathbandhan’ let alone ‘mahagathbandhan’. It is a ‘non-bandhan’. You have no leader, no programme, no meeting of minds. Stability, which is paramount, is a major casualty. The only thing in common is negative agenda — ‘remove one man’. It is a recipe for chaos,” Jaitley wrote in a blog.
Jaitley’s attack on the Congress over “Hindu terror” came against the backdrop of Modi repeatedly referring to Pakistan on the campaign trail and trying to paint the Opposition as sympathisers of the enemy country.
“The mahamilawati (adulterated) people are competing among themselves to become popular in Pakistan, become heroes in Pakistan. They are getting huge media coverage and applause in Pakistan. Tell me, does this country need an Indian hero or a Pakistani hero?” he had told a rally in Meerut on Thursday.