BJP demands apology from Congress after Malegaon blast case verdict

The ruling BJP on Thursday hailed the special NIA court verdict acquitting all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, describing the development as a demolition of the Congress' "well-thought-out conspiracy regarding Hindu and saffron terror."

The court on Thursday acquitted former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya and former army officer Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, among others, in the 2008 blast case involving six killings and injuries to over 100 people.

Leading the offensive on BJP's behalf today, former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded an apology from Congress brass Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of peddling the saffron terror narrative through misuse of government agencies.

Prasad cited three instances to make the case of Congress leaders' concerted moves to firm up "the Hindu terror issue": Rahul Gandhi's now-leaked December 2009 conversation with a top US diplomat, in which he said saffron terror was more dangerous than LeT and left-wing extremism; a 2010 statement of then-Home Minister P. Chidambaram who addressed the DGP conference on terror; and a 2013 statement by then-Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who spoke of Hindu terror in a Congress meeting.

"We welcome the verdict in the Malegaon case. It demolishes the Congress conspiracy of saffron terror. We demand an apology from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and compensation for all accused in the Malegaon case who were wrongly confined for 17 years and tortured," said Prasad.

He also attacked Chidambaram for allegedly pressuring then-Home Secretary GK Pillai against calling Ishrat Jahan an LeT agent despite LeT claiming the death of one of its own.

"Amit Shah was wrongly embroiled in the Ishrat Jahan case. The Supreme Court, when it gave bail to Amit Shah, barred him from entering Gujarat for a year. That judgment of the court was wrong," said Prasad, adding that another Union home ministry official, RV Mani, was allegedly pressured by the then-ruling Congress to change the Ishrat Jahan-related affidavits in court. The BJP said the Congress could go to any length in its pursuit of Muslim vote bank politics and cited "Congress opposition to the criminalisation of triple talaq, court-delivered compensation to Shah Bano, and Wakf amendments."

"After the 1984 majority of 400-plus seats in Lok Sabha, the Congress has been shrinking electorally. Since 1984, it hasn't won a majority on its own, and yet its leaders don't understand," said Prasad.