By IANS,
Chandigarh : Numerous blasts and other terror related incidents in New Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur and other places notwithstanding, union Home Minister Shivraj Patil Saturday said the law and order situation in the country was “very good”.
Talking briefly to media persons after addressing Congress workers here, Patil said: “The law and order situation (in the country) is very good.”
Patil quoted figures to substantiate his claim.
“During the tenure of the present UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, there have been 24,000 terror related incidents. During the previous NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government, there were nearly 36,000 terror incidents,” Patil said.
He said the casualty figure during the UPA government was only about 6,000 while it was nearly 11,000 in the NDA regime.
Patil refused to speak about radical Hindu groups getting linked to terrorism.
“I cannot give a judgment standing here without going through the papers. I will leave the issue to the investigating officers to present the case before the court and get a proper judgment,” Patil said.
“Whether it is Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism or Buddhism, they all teach us how to love and respect each other and give us the feeling that we all are chips of the same block. If someone is doing it (terrorism), I would ask him and you (media) not to project this matter as something which belongs to a religion,” the home minister said.
Patil also refused to say anything on the move by the Haryana railway police to question the Malegaon blast suspects for their role in the Samjhauta Express link train blast February last year.
“I don’t have details of all this. I am not the investigating officer,” Patil said.