BJP attacks opposition for questioning Bhopal shootout

The BJP on Monday accused the opposition parties of appeasing terrorists and gangsters as the latter questioned the veracity of the gunning down of eight SIMI activists in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

Pointing to the demand of the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a judicial probe into the killing of the eight activists who earlier escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail, BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narsimha Rao said the opposition parties were attacking the morale of the security forces.

"All the eight terrorists killed were involved in heinous acts, including bomb blasts, murder and dacoity. Then why should any political party criticise such an incident instead of hailing the success of the security personnel?

"The Left parties, the Congress and the AAP are always looking to attack the morale of the armed forces, the morale of police forces," Rao told the media here.

"We find this extremely discomfiting and disgusting that all these parties are indulging in the appeasement of terrorists, separatists and gangsters. All this is being done with an eye on politics," the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

Hitting out at Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Rao said the opposition parties' perverse secularism would lead to their political Waterloo.

"We have seen Sonia Gandhi shedding tears for terrorist killed in the Batla House encounter (2008); we have seen Rahul Gandhi questioning the bravery of the armed forces after the surgical strikes.

"A lot of these parties which indulge in perverse secularism do it with a hope that they can possibly appease a section of the electorate. It has not served them in the past, but these parties still persist with their vote bank politics.

He said the BJP urged all political parties to shun the path of vote bank politics. Otherwise, this perverse politics is bound to meet its political Waterloo, he said.

Eight terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who escaped from Bhopal Central Jail were killed in a gunfight with police on the outskirts of the city on Monday.

--IANS

and/tsb/bg