Shinde 'regrets' saffron terror remark, BJP accepts retraction

Says did not want to link terror with any religion

On the eve of Parliament’s Budget session, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde gave in to pressure from the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to retract a statement last month, blaming the latter and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for training terrorists.

Shinde has said he “regretted” being misunderstood and he had not meant to link terrorism to any religion.

He said so after the Congress party’s core group, headed by Sonia Gandhi, met today to prepare a strategy for the session. Party leaders say it was decided that Shinde would formally issue a statement by the evening to defuse a situation wherein the BJP had threatened to boycott Shinde, who is also Leader of the Lok Sabha. The government is keen to ensure smooth running of Parliament.

After an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the minister discussed the required clarification for his comments with Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The two cleared the contents of the statement.

Earlier, during the all-party meeting, Swaraj had raised the issue and asked Kumar to intervene. BJP leaders were adamant that Shinde would have to apologise. Swaraj said during the meet that if her party and the RSS were running terrorist camps, she didn’t have the right to be Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and the government should start an investigation on which BJP leaders were involved in such activities.

After the meeting, Shinde and senior partymen Kamal Nath and Rajeev Shukla spoke to Swaraj on the issue and assured her on being ready to take back the statement.

“Since controversy has been created on account of my statement, I am issuing this clarification and expressing regret to those who felt hurt by my statement. I will continue to perform my duties to the best of my ability to ensure that harmony is maintained in the social fabric of India,” stated Shinde.

“My statement given in Jaipur last month has created a misunderstanding. It has been understood to mean that I was linking terrorism to a particular religion and was accusing certain political organisations of being involved in organising terror camps. I had no intention to link terror to any religion. There is no basis for suggesting that terror can be linked to organisations mentioned in my brief speech in Jaipur.”