By IANS,
Lucknow: The Congress Monday demanded an unconditional apology from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Vinay Katiyar for issuing “objectionable posters linking Congress with terrorism”, ahead of his rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district.
The posters for the ‘Janta Jago’ rally, which would take place Friday, read: “Whose son-in-law is Afzal Guru, who had attacked parliament?” The reply below reads: “The Congress Party.”
The posters also have anti-Congress slogans like “The five terrorist sons of the Congress – terrorism of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism of Punjab, terrorism of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), terrorism of Naxals (Maoists) and terrorism of ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom).”
“As the language used in the posters is objectionable, Vinay Katiyar must immediately apologise for issuing such posters,” state Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh told reporters here.
“As far as the capital punishment of Afzal Guru is concerned, it is related to judicial and constitutional process. He cannot blame any party for it. Before issuing such posters, Vinay Katiyar should have come forward and told us what relations the BJP shares with the terrorists released following the Kandhar plane hijack,” he said.
When contacted, Katiyar told IANS: “Though I have not issued such posters, I don’t see anything wrong in them.”
“In my opinion, the questions are relevant… Citizens of the country want answer of those questions from Congress… Without wasting more time, Congress must immediately provide answers to all the questions,” he said.
About his rally, Katiyar said: “It would focus on anti-people policies of the Congress government and its failure to deal with terrorism and contain inflation.”