Author: Suchandana Gupta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 3, 2008
In an apparent bid to counter the BJP's campaign
over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's hanging, the Congress on Sunday
clarified its position on the issue, and said it has no sympathy for terrorists.
"Congress has no sympathies whatsoever
for terrorists. Afzal should be hanged. There's no doubt about it," said
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh. He said Congress has never supported
Afzal or any act of terror. "We're wrongly blamed for being soft on terror.
Afzal Guru has been convicted and his mercy petition before the President
is under process."
The former MP CM also launched a scathing
attack on the Sangh Parivar and said blasts happen whenever the BJP is in
trouble. "The Assam blasts came at a time when the BJP was in an embarrassing
situation after sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's arrest. It needed to divert attention,"
he said.
He said Parliament was attacked when Lok Sabha
was to discuss the first Tehelka sting against BJP. "Whenever there are
polls, blasts happen. In Karnataka, there were blasts in Hubli the day of
the first phase of polling. Two days before the second phase, blasts ripped
through Jaipur," Digvijay said.
He demanded a probe into the funding of Malegaon
blast accused sadhvi's NGOs. "Gujarat government is extending financial
support to sadhvi's NGOs," he said and demanded a fresh probe into the
blasts and Muslims killed in the recent years. "Blasts near mosques could
be the work of saffron organisations. Centre should probe these incidents
and take action against the culprits."
