Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, who triggered controversy in 2010 after attending the launch of a e-book, ‘26/11: RSS ki Sazish’, was additionally measured in his phrases, saying that terrorism, a “byproduct of hatred”, had no faith.

“I even informed the house minister within the Rajya Sabha that I by no means accused the RSS of the Mumbai assault. I’ll repeat that the RSS had no function within the Mumbai terror assault. The allegations made in opposition to me are false,” Singh had informed reporters forward of the Malegaon case verdict.

Following the decision, when reporters approached him for a response, Singh stated, “There aren’t any Hindu terrorists. Hatred offers beginning to terrorism, not Hinduism, Islam or some other faith. It’s not proper to hyperlink faith with terrorism. Each faith represents love, concord, fact, and non-violence.”

Digvijaya Singh contested and misplaced the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Bhopal seat in opposition to BJP’s Pragya Thakur, a kind of acquitted Thursday within the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, in the meantime, informed reporters that these affected by the acquittal have the choice of submitting an enchantment.

Digvijaya Singh’s presence at a launch occasion, involving a e-book authored by Aziz Burney, in 2010 got here when many voices inside the Congress had began flagging the potential radicalisation amongst a piece of Hindus, and the BJP-RSS function behind it.

As an illustration, addressing a convention of high law enforcement officials in August 2010, P. Chidambaram, then serving as the house minister, stated, “There isn’t any let-up within the makes an attempt to radicalise younger women and men in India. In addition to, there’s the just lately uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in lots of bomb blasts of the previous. My recommendation to you is that we should stay ever vigilant and proceed to construct, on the central and state ranges, our capability in counter-terrorism.”

His remarks, on the time, sparked an argument, prompting the Congress to difficulty a clarification that “terrorism has just one color, and it’s black”.

Talking Thursday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi reiterated that place, claiming UPA-era Dwelling Secretary R.Okay. Singh, who would subsequently be part of the BJP and function a minister within the Modi dispensation, coined the time period “saffron terror”.

“The Congress occasion has been saying from the primary day that faith is just not related to terrorism. This time period was coined by the then-Dwelling Secretary, R.Okay. Singh. The BJP stored him as a minister and MP for 10 years, sitting alongside them,” Pratapgarhi stated, including that the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) particular courtroom delivered “a verdict, not justice”.

“Former Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad chief Hemant Karkare, who had caught them (the Malegaon blast accused) was martyred whereas defending this nation within the 2008 Mumbai assault. The BJP is actually questioning his martyrdom now,” he stated.

Former Dwelling Minister and Congress chief Sushilkumar Shinde has written in his 2024 autobiography that R.Okay. Singh spoke about “saffron terror” in 2013 after Shinde introduced it up at a celebration conference in Jaipur in January 2013.

In an tackle on the conference, Shinde famous he spoke about “saffron terror” in his memoir ‘5 A long time in Politics’, and the house ministry investigations revealed that some saffron organisations had been conducting coaching camps to unfold terrorism.

“Reviews have come in the course of the investigation that the BJP and the RSS conduct terror coaching camps to unfold terrorism … Bombs had been planted within the Samjhauta Categorical, Mecca Masjid, and a blast was carried out in Malegaon. We must give it some thought severely and must stay alert,’ I had informed the AICC delegates. ‘We’ve got to take these details severely and stay alert’,” Shinde wrote.

He added, “I had come throughout the time period ‘saffron terror’ in one of many confidential papers ready by the Union house ministry. But it surely was a difficulty that had the potential to snowball into an enormous controversy because the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), and its ideological fulcrum, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had been apparently concerned.”

“I used to be, due to this fact, cautious to first verify the veracity of the allegation earlier than going public with it…Subsequently, R.Okay. Singh additionally spoke, which was a pleasing shock as a result of it’s uncommon to see an Indian Administrative Service officer dwell on politicised points.”

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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Additionally Learn: ‘Grave suspicion however not sufficient proof’—what NIA courtroom stated because it acquitted Malegaon blast accused

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