Author: Agencies
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 22, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/352119.html
Criticising Congress, BSP and SP for their
"minority appeasement policies", the BJP on Friday said visit of
MPs of these three parties to the house of Abu Bashir, the SIMI activist allegedly
arrested for Ahmedabad serial blasts, showed they were "cheerleaders
of terrorism".
"The charge of the BJP that the UPA and
its allies are soft on terror now witnesses a conclusive evidence with the
visit of Ram Naresh Yadav (Congress), Akbar Ahmad Dumpy (BSP) and Abu Azmi
(SP) to the Azamgarh village of Mufti Abu Bashir, the SIMI terrorist responsible
for blasts in Ahmedabad," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.
BJP was also critical of Syed Ahmad Bukhari,
Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, for visiting the parents of Bashir.
"The Congress, BSP and SP have become
cheerleaders of these terrorist organisations, groups and individuals who
are mercilessly targeting and killing innocents across the nation," Rudy
said.
"Is this overt, disgusting display of
support to elements of terror an attempt to influence the judicial process?"
he asked.
The saffron party also expressed anger at
the Union Home Minister's statement that terrorists were "boys who have
been misled". In the same breath, Rudy referred to the stand of RJD,
LJP and SP that the ban on SIMI should be lifted.
"This sympathy with terrorists does not
only mark supporting terrorism but also ascertains their collusiveness,"
he said.
The BJP lauded Gujarat police for speedy detection
of terrorists involved in the Ahmedabad blasts. The party also demanded that
the Centre should give its nod to a POTA-like anti-terror law in Gujarat.
