Shinde expressed regret, not apology: Kamal Nath

 

As dust settles on Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s “Hindu terror” remark, the government has said Shinde had not apologised for his controversial remarks but only expressed regret, which was accepted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Well, it is regret. That is the word. I cannot change the language once it is used,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told journalist Karan Thapar on the Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

Nath was responding to questions on whether Shinde had expressed regret or tendered an apology for his remark made at a Congress meet in Jaipur that the BJP was running camps for training Hindu terrorists.

Nath said while Shinde had used the word BJP, he has clarified that he did not mean any political organisation. “If it has inadvertently or advertently been construed to mean that, he said I express regret,” Nath said.

He also sought to make a distinction between Shinde’s remarks and similar comments made by P Chidambaram during the latter’s tenure as home minister.

“The difference was Shinde used the word BJP and Chidambaram had not used the word BJP,” he said.

The minister said the statement of regret was discussed at meetings he and Shinde had with the BJP leadership.

“There was a discussion and some text was worked out. Some text was discussed (with BJP). They said this was enough... they said he should say this. This was not a test like putting a comma and a fullstop,” Nath said, without elaborating much about the meetings with the BJP leaders.

He added the matter was discussed with leaders of BJP to avoid complications later.