The Welfare Party of India has expressed utter surprise over the retraction by Union Home Minister Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde on 20 February. Party General Secretary Dr. S.Q.R. Ilyas, in a statement on 21 February, said Mr. Shinde has done a volte face to his political statement made at last month’s Jaipur chintan shibir of the Congress Party that the Sangh Parivar outfits were promoting terrorism and putting blame on minorities, making reference to the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts. The very next day, the Union Home Secretary offered solid proof of what the Home Minister had said. Earlier also apart from late Mr. Hemant Karkare, who first exposed the involvement of right wing forces in terror cases, the powerful general secretary of Congress Party Mr. Digvijay Singh said several times that he has with him solid proof of the involvement of Sangh Parivar in bomb blasts.
‘It is shame that the “powerful” Home Minister has now succumbed to the fascist pressure tactics of the BJP, the main opposition party in Parliament and has proved spineless. Nobody disputes with his clarification that terrorism is not linked to any particular religion, but the crux of the controversy is the existence of “false flag” Hindutva terror, pointed out by human rights groups and minority organisations since long, asserted by many political parties in recent days and further corroborated by the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand now under judicial custody in the Mecca masjid blast case,’ said the statement.
“It is disappointing to note that the Congress Party, instead of demonstrating a sincere and strong political will and seizing the bull by its horns, is resorting to the soft Hindutva game again and again,” it added. The Welfare Party wanted to know what steps the Government of India is going to take on the official statement of the Home Secretary R K Singh who exposed names of at least 10 people involved in several blasts, who were associated with the RSS.
The Welfare Party reiterated its demand to constitute a high power commission to bring out many undisclosed details of all major blasts and terror incidents since 2001 and bring out a white paper.
The party expressed severe disappointment at Mr. Shinde’s “clarification” that has hurt the sentiments of many innocent Muslim youth who had to suffer in jails for years and later were set free It wanted to draw the attention of the Home Minister and the entire political leadership of the nation that the minister’s “clarification” has hurt the confidence of millions of democratic peace-loving citizens in the efficacy and neutrality of our political system.
The statement further said, “On such a sensitive issue which is directly related to national security and which is responsible for the loss of many innocent lives, damage of properties worth crores of rupees and which is a permanent burden on our economy, the home minister is playing politics.” The party also demanded an apology and resignation of Mr. Shinde as he failed to perform his duty as Union Home Minister.