Shinde says sorry, regrets 'Hindu terror' remarks

The Home Minister had made the remark at the Congress meeting in Jaipur in January this year

On the eve of the crucial Budget session, giving in to pressure from principal opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for his alleged statement blaming the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for training terrorists, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde “regretted” that he had been misunderstood and he had not meant to link terrorism to any religion.

The statement came soon after the Congress core group headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi met today to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming session. Senior Congress leaders informed that it was decided that Shinde would formally issue a statement by the evening to resolve the stalemate wherein the BJP had threatened to boycott Shinde who is also the Leader of the House. UPA was desperate to ensure smooth running of the house.

After the all party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Shinde had discussed the clarification of his comments with Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and both leaders had agreed on the contents of the statement. During the all party meeting, Swaraj had raised the issue and asked Meira Kumar to intervene. BJP leaders were adamant that Shinde will have to apologise for his statement and had asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack the home minister.   

“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  Sushil Kumar Shinde, home minister, in a written statement issued outside his residence.

Sushma Swaraj, who is also the Leader of the Opposition had forthrightly said during the all party meeting that if BJP and RSS were running terror camps; she didn’t have the right to be the Leader of Opposition in Parliament and the union government should start an investigation to find out which BJP leaders were involved in terror activities.

“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,” said Shinde.

Senior leaders of the BJP had decided to boycott Shinde both as home minister and as the Leader of House in Parliament till the time he doesn’t apologise for his statements. After the all party meeting of Speaker, Shinde along with senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Rajiv Shukla spoke to Sushma Swaraj on the issue and assured the BJP leader that he was ready to take back his statement.