Chennai: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Minister V Narayanasamy on Tuesday defended remarks made Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Hindu outfits, saying that the BJP’s demand for his resignation is unwarranted.
Talking to reporters in Chennai, Narayanasamy said that militancy prevails in the country and cannot be ignored; however Shinde’s comments did not intend to target a particular community.
“BJP leaders demand for resignation of Shinde is unwarranted. There is terrorism in several parts of the country.”
“Whosoever is involved in terrorism is condemnable. In fact, Malegaon incident and Jama Masjid incident is a clear case of the people who are belonging to a particular community involved in terrorism there and the innocent people were killed and the people who have been arrested was Sadhvi and training camp was found out and eventually Sadhvi was arrested," said Narayanasamy.
Earlier on Sunday, Shinde had said that the BJP and its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were recruiting and training Hindu militants.
However, later changing his stance, Shinde clarified that he only quoted newspaper reports to point out growing incidents of saffron militancy in the country.
He added that the Congress Party would not ignore militancy by any group.
“India is a secular country, where whether it is Hindu terrorism or the Islamic fundamental terrorism, both are to be condemned and therefore our Congress party and our government, both condemn both incidents, therefore the BJP telling that there is the violence, terrorism only on one side by Muslims and on Hindu side there is nothing, it is totally unbelievable,” said Narayanasamy.
Shinde also claimed that the BJP uses cultural nationalism to emotionally divide the country, whereas the Congress worked on the policy of consensus.
ANI
First Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 14:23