BJP wants Shinde sacked for ‘irrelevant, foolish’ remarks

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which launched a nation-wide demonstration against union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde after his comments on “Hindu terror”, has demanded that the minister be sacked immediately for his “irrelevant, baseless and foolish” statement.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which launched a nation-wide demonstration against union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde after his comments on “Hindu terror”, has demanded that the minister be sacked immediately for his “irrelevant, baseless and foolish” statement.

HT Image

The BJP believe the statement to be in favour of Pakistan. Party leader Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday that they will corner the ruling Congress both inside and outside the Parliament over the issue.

Naidu addressed a press conference at the party’s Mumbai office before courting arrest with BJP workers on the issue.

“The Congress has been misusing the CBI, the income-tax department, the intelligence bureau and now the home ministry to settle its political agenda. Even the governor’s offices have been misused for political reasons,” he added.

Naidu, however, refused to react to allegations of Nitin Gadkari threatening income-tax officers for taking action against his companies.

Alleging that the statement by the home minister has proved in favour of the terrorists in Pakistan, Naidu said that the Congress has been trying to divert the attention of the people from other burning issues. “Poverty, inflation, terrorism, naxalism, the financial crisis — all these are challenges that the country is currently facing. The short-sighted policy of the Congress-led UPA government was responsible for all of this, but instead of dealing with them, the government has tried to divert public attention by such sweeping statements,” he added.

Naidu, who is among the party’s top leaders in Maharashtra, said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have endorsed the statement by keeping mum on the issue.

Demanding apologies from them, he said that terrorism was not about religion and the BJP had never indulged in any anti-national activities. He also alleged that the Congress had promoted Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as part of their opportunistic policies in the past.