By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has “let loose a reign of terror on Hindu society” with the patronage of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the centre, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has said in a scathing editorial in its mouthpiece, ‘Organiser.’
In an over 1,500-word editorial in its latest issue (Nov. 23), the newsweekly has said that the “ATS actions are illegal, its conduct violates all tenets of decent, adroit and result-oriented, pro-active investigations”.
Commenting on the ATS investigations into the Sep 29 Malegaon blast in which 10 accused have been charged under provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), it said the ATS “proves nothing and speaks volumes”.
“Its (ATS’s) fables cannot stand the scrutiny of even a Bollywood director. It is able to get away because MCOCA empowers the detention of a suspect for upto 180 days without filing charges,” it said.
It lashed out at the UPA government, saying “it is proving itself a hydra-headed monster. At the fag end of the most disastrous yet in Indian history, it believes, it has evolved a chakravyuh to confront its opponents.”
It said that an act “meant to curb crime, bust terror and offer safety to law-abiding citizens is being misused to arrest and keep in confinement, make wild and unsubstantiated allegations and defame respected, patriotic and transparent activities of honourable military officers and religious activists”.
Continuing in a similar vein it said: “On the one hand it hopes to put the nationalist forces in the country on the defensive. On the other, it believes, these shenanigans will divert the attention of the public from its ineffectiveness or benevolent indulgence of jehadi elements in the country responsible for making life in India unsafe for ordinary citizens. It is calculating that the terrorists will be eternally grateful to UPA for floating the chimera of majority terrorism as a counter to the loathing and repugnancy the Islamists have earned over the years.”
It said that Maharashtra it is the only state armed with such “draconian” right to excesses on its citizens under the MCOCA. “The ATS is safe because it is under the UPA, it is doing a job that the UPA wants it to do. It is above the law of the land, it needs to take the normal legal procedures, it can even violate the fundamental rights, human rights, religious rights and sensibilities because it is fighting terror, about which the entire nation is concerned, and no nationalist in the country wants any leniency.”
Dwelling on what it terms as “the UPA double-standard”, the editorial said that it is “so scandalously explicit, brazen and partisan that it makes no apology for being so. See how the ATS is feeding stories 24×7 on Malegaon blast probe as if that was the only terror attack that happened in the country or that is the only one under investigation.
Crazy? Funny Or, deeply sinister and vicious?” It said that ever since the UPA government came to power, dozens of serial bombings have left an estimated 7,000 people dead, more injured, property worth billions destroyed.
Coming to the defence of serving Indian army officer Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, it said:
“…But the charge against him is that he provided RDX for the bomb. And the links, according to the ATS, goes across the country from Nashik to Dangsin Gujarat to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Jammu. It is a fantastic imagination to link such distant and independent individuals with a solitary and half-baked conspiracy theory.”
It added: “UPA has long been at odds with the Indian Army. The communal profiling, Pay Commission controversy and the left-handed treatment to heroes of Kargil, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s funeral and the interference in anti-terror operations in Jammu & Kashmir, are just a few examples.”
Expressing support to Sadhvi Pragnya Chandrapal Singh Thakur, one of the main accused in the Malegaon blast, it said that she “was not given the respect due to a woman or a religious leader, though she is only a suspect not a convict. Then, again violating the law, without her consent the Sadhvi was forced to undergo a lie detector test, polygraph, narco-analysis and all kinds of intimidation.”
It alleged that the UPA has done “everything in its power” to undermine the essence and sovereignty of India. “It is equally uneasy and scornful of religious and cultural bodies and leaders spreading the message of India’s Hindu heritage, unity and strength. It is perhaps wreaking its revenge on nationalist forces asking for a stringent law and action against jehadis and terrorists out to destroy India. See how the UPA strikes back.”