VHP chief warns Sonia not to 'touch' Hindu leaders
By SHAHID RAZA BURNEY | ARAB NEWS
Published: Dec 25, 2010 20:09 Updated: Dec 25, 2010 20:09
AURANGABAD/MUMBAI: In a direct threat to Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal on Friday dared Sonia to take on the Hindu community.
Addressing a VHP meeting in Aurangabad, Singhal challenging Sonia said, “Don't ever dare to touch any Hindu leader, else you will face the same fate which your mother-in-law the former Indian Premier Indira Gandhi faced," a reference to the assassination of Indira at the hands of her Sikh security guards after the army flushed Sikh terrorists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Singhal made this sensational statement following the interrogation of senior Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) in the 2007 Hyderabad's Makkah Mosque blast. The interrogation of Kumar, the head of the Muslim wing of the RSS, had caused ripples in the RSS. The RSS had deplored the federal government and the Congress party for involving Kumar in the blast case to appease the Muslims.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and spokesman of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Hussain Dalwai strongly deplored the provocative statement of Singhal. "The state and the federal government should not ignore Singhal’s statement against Sonia Gandhi and should take stern action against the VHP chief in the same manner as action is taken against terrorists," Dalwai said.
Coming out in defense of Singhal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Madhav Bhandari said that Singhal’s statement was related to the period when Indira had imposed Emergency in 1975. In an attempt to shield Singhal, Bhandari stated that during Emergency several RSS leaders were arrested and after the lifting of Emergency, Indira and her Congress party were defeated in the polls. He clarified that Singhal’s statement was made in this context.
In another development, the working president of the Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray took pot shots at the Mumbai police over the release of the sketch of an alleged Pakistani terrorist Walid Jinnah, who the police claimed had sneaked into the city along with three other terrorists to carry out terror attacks.
Mocking at the cops at a function at the Bombay Press Club on Saturday, Uddhav asked whether the terrorists have set up a passport photo shop in Mumbai. "Henceforth, not only photographs but the terrorists should be apprehended," he warned.
Reminding the cops that they had also released sketches of two terrorists allegedly to have sneaked into Mumbai during a popular Hindu festival few months ago, but had failed to nab them, Uddhav said, "What a shame that the police have the information and the sketch of the terrorist but yet cannot get hold of him, can there be a bigger joke than this? This is not at all proper from the point of the security of Mumbai.
http://arabnews.com/world/article223024.ece
By SHAHID RAZA BURNEY | ARAB NEWS
Published: Dec 25, 2010 20:09 Updated: Dec 25, 2010 20:09
AURANGABAD/MUMBAI: In a direct threat to Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal on Friday dared Sonia to take on the Hindu community.
Addressing a VHP meeting in Aurangabad, Singhal challenging Sonia said, “Don't ever dare to touch any Hindu leader, else you will face the same fate which your mother-in-law the former Indian Premier Indira Gandhi faced," a reference to the assassination of Indira at the hands of her Sikh security guards after the army flushed Sikh terrorists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Singhal made this sensational statement following the interrogation of senior Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) in the 2007 Hyderabad's Makkah Mosque blast. The interrogation of Kumar, the head of the Muslim wing of the RSS, had caused ripples in the RSS. The RSS had deplored the federal government and the Congress party for involving Kumar in the blast case to appease the Muslims.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and spokesman of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Hussain Dalwai strongly deplored the provocative statement of Singhal. "The state and the federal government should not ignore Singhal’s statement against Sonia Gandhi and should take stern action against the VHP chief in the same manner as action is taken against terrorists," Dalwai said.
Coming out in defense of Singhal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Madhav Bhandari said that Singhal’s statement was related to the period when Indira had imposed Emergency in 1975. In an attempt to shield Singhal, Bhandari stated that during Emergency several RSS leaders were arrested and after the lifting of Emergency, Indira and her Congress party were defeated in the polls. He clarified that Singhal’s statement was made in this context.
In another development, the working president of the Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray took pot shots at the Mumbai police over the release of the sketch of an alleged Pakistani terrorist Walid Jinnah, who the police claimed had sneaked into the city along with three other terrorists to carry out terror attacks.
Mocking at the cops at a function at the Bombay Press Club on Saturday, Uddhav asked whether the terrorists have set up a passport photo shop in Mumbai. "Henceforth, not only photographs but the terrorists should be apprehended," he warned.
Reminding the cops that they had also released sketches of two terrorists allegedly to have sneaked into Mumbai during a popular Hindu festival few months ago, but had failed to nab them, Uddhav said, "What a shame that the police have the information and the sketch of the terrorist but yet cannot get hold of him, can there be a bigger joke than this? This is not at all proper from the point of the security of Mumbai.
http://arabnews.com/world/article223024.ece