The Congress on Thursday attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after a former pracharak (worker) claimed in an affidavit that he participated in a bomb-making camp a year before the 2004 Lok Sabha election and was asked to take 'responsibility for carrying out maximum bomb blasts in various parts in the country'. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera shared a copy of the affidavit on Twitter.
Hindustan Times is unable to independently verify the affidavit and neither the RSS nor the Bharatiya Janata Party has commented on the allegation at the time of writing this.
Congress leader Khera shared a video of the pracharak - Yashwant Shinde - and claimed the affidavit reveals 'horrific information about the Sangh's anti-national activities'. "How a conspiracy was hatched to bomb the entire country, who were involved in it," he tweeted.
In the affidavit - filed in a court in Maharashtra's Nanded - Shinde claimed to have worked for the RSS (the BJP's ideological mentor) and right-wing outfits Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal in various capacities at both state and national levels.
Shinde said he went to Jammu in 1994 after reading about atrocities meted out to Kashmiri Pandits and was appointed as 'vistarak' of Rajouri and Jawaharnagar. Annoyed by the statement of then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, Shinde said he hit the National Conference leader in his face, and was arrested and taken to Rajouri police station.
He claimed to have been granted bail after 12 days and that he was arrested for a second time under the Public Safety Act. He said he was released after four months and acquitted by the court in 1998. A year later he said he was in Maharashtra when the RSS' Indresh Kumar allegedly told him to round up some boys and take them to Jammu to be trained in the use of modern weapons. Shinde claimed he took Himanshu Panse, a full-time VHP worker, and his seven friends and that they 'received training in modern weaponry'.
{{/usCountry}}He claimed to have been granted bail after 12 days and that he was arrested for a second time under the Public Safety Act. He said he was released after four months and acquitted by the court in 1998. A year later he said he was in Maharashtra when the RSS' Indresh Kumar allegedly told him to round up some boys and take them to Jammu to be trained in the use of modern weapons. Shinde claimed he took Himanshu Panse, a full-time VHP worker, and his seven friends and that they 'received training in modern weaponry'.
{{/usCountry}}In the seven-page affidavit, Shinde names several RSS and VHP functionaries and claims their involvement at many levels of planning and executing a bomb blast. He claims he received a message in July 2003 about a meeting at Gol Deul in the Khetwadi area in South Mumbai.
"He went for the meeting at the given time. There were only two persons. They were members of RSS and were close associates of Milind Parande, who was the leader of VHP, Maharashtra Prant. These two persons informed the applicant that a training camp in bomb-making was going to be organised shortly and thereafter, there was a plan to cause bomb blasts throughout the country," the affidavit read.
"They put forth the proposal that he should take responsibility for carrying out maximum bomb blasts in various parts in the country. He was shocked but did not show (it) on his face and asked them in a lighter vein whether it was a preparation for 2004. They did not answer."
Shinde also claims that he did not approve but did not express that disapproval openly. He decided to pretend to be 'part of the conspiracy' so he could identify the persons involved.
"It was a three-day camp in a resort at the foot of Sinhagad Fort. About 20 youths from Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Nanded, etc districts of Maharashtra were present for the training."
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh said Shinde's affidavit had taken courage and the people named have 'criminal tendencies'. After this statement, Yashwant's life may be in danger. Commissioner of Police Mumbai should immediately make adequate arrangements for Yashwant's security."