BJP diverting public's attention from NIA's observations: Shakeel Ahmed on IM row

Issuing a clarification about his comments regarding the creation of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday said he had merely referred to the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) findings and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to divert the attention of the people from those observations.

"This is not my statement; this is the NIA's observation. The BJP is trying to divert the issue, Ahmed said.

"I have mentioned in my tweet that it is the NIA's observation," he added.

The Congress Party had earlier distanced itself from Shakeel Ahmed's remarks.

"I don't think this is the official party line," said Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, Shakeel Ahmed claimed that it was the 2002 Gujarat riots that led to the formation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen.

"Indian Mujahideen was formed after Gujarat riots, says NIA in its charge sheet. Even now BJP and RSS will not desist from their communal politics?" he tweeted, while referring to a chargesheet filed by the NIA after the serial blasts took place at Bodh Gaya in Bihar earlier this month.

Hitting back, the BJP had said that the remarks were "stupid" and "reprehensible" as the Pakistan links of such outfits were well known and alleged that it was a "desperate" Congress which was actually trying to communalise the political scenario and playing with national security as it had "no answers for all the wrongs" it had done.

"There is this competition among the various Congress spokespersons and leaders to deliberately communalise the country's political scenario, because they have no answer to stinking corruption, malgovernance, price rice, unemployment, the general sense of suffering the people of India are having," BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad said.