'Those who practice politics of polarization, play into hands of extremist organizations': Tewari

Hours after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh warned about the threat to India from radical organizations like the Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying those who practice the politics of religion polarization actually play into the hands of extremist organizations.

"The single biggest antidote to ensure that young Indians do not get radicalized is to embrace the inclusive idea of India. Those people who practice the politics of religious polarization, which means the BJP-NDA government, in fact play into the hands of extremist organizations and radical organizations and their politics become the fodder for all these extremist organizations who are a threat to global civilization," Tewari told ANI here.

Earlier today, the Home Minister had stated that India cannot take Al-Qaeda's threat to turn the country into an Islamic state lightly and added that the issue should be considered as a challenge.

"There are some misguided youth who are getting attracted to join organisations like the ISIS. We are concerned about the youngsters who are getting drawn to IS. We cannot take Al-Qaeda's threat of turning India into an Islamic country lightly and should consider it a challenge," Rajnath said at the DGPs, IGPs conference in Guwahati.

The Union Home Minister's comments came in reaction to Pakistan's repeated claims that it had no role to play in terror activities against India, which were carried out by non-state actors.