The confession of a former RSS worker, Kamal Chauhan, before the media that he had planted bombs on Samjhauta Express in 2007 has given the Congress fresh ammo to attack the BJP, which had been critical of the ruling party’s handling of the internal security.
Officially, the
Congress refrained from commenting on the issue. “We don’t give a running commentary on an ongoing investigation. It is for the investigating agencies to take cognisance of the statement and later for the court to decide once a charge-sheet is filed,” party spokesman Manish Tewari said.
But party leaders, especially Digvijaya Singh, have often accused the RSS of indulging in terrorist activities in the country.
On his part, home minister P Chidambaram has maintained that there are documented cases of right-wing groups’ involvement in terror activities.
The RSS rubbished the allegations and called the probe into the blasts “extremely controversial as government had initially stated that it was the handiwork of certain ISI agents”.
“There is a deliberate design to drag the name of RSS. There are certain people who confessed because of NIA beating them up and then they have gone back on their confession,” RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said.
The BJP too echoed the RSS views. “NIA will have to tell the nation when a person (Nagori) and his accomplices were arrested and their confessional statements recorded ... what happened to that,” party spokesman Prakash Javdekar said.
Noting the developments, the Left parties said a more rigorous probe is needed to unearth the details of the case.