By IANS,
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday termed a police charge-sheet in the 2007 Ajmer blast as a political conspiracy to defame nationalist organizations, while the Congress said it establishes Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders’ involvement in alleged acts of terror.
“It is a political conspiracy to defame the nationalist organizations. The charge-sheet does not name the RSS. It is surprising to link it to the RSS,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
She said the charge-sheet has wrongly described some people as “pracharaks” (official).
“Were they ‘pracharaks’ on the day the charge-sheet has been filed,” she asked.
On the role of Abhinav Bharat, a radical Hindu group, she said the BJP had nothing to do with the organization.
Asked about the Rajasthan Police charge-sheet mentioning the name of RSS leader Indresh Kumar, Sitharaman said that his name had been “included without credible evidence”.
“The charge-sheet says he participated in a secret meeting. Is it substantial,” she said.
Sitharaman indicated that Indresh Kumar would use legal remedies available to him to get his name cleared.
Referring to a convention in Delhi Monday in which Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani took part, she said the government had taken no action against those who spoke against the integrity of the country while it was trying to defame the nationalist organizations.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said that the charge-sheet was a manifestation of “the bigoted worldview of RSS”.
“Right from its inception till today, except for assaulting the pluralistic idea of India, the RSS has done nothing else for the Indian nation. So it is high time that they introspected about their core ideology and the violence and the sectarianism it spawns.”
“Today you have conclusive and clinching evidence in the form of a documented challan filed in a court of law which prima facie establishes involvement of RSS leaders in alleged acts of terror,” he said.
“They also need to introspect as to how their involvement impacts the moral position of India vis-à-vis terrorism that we have occupied for the last 30 years,” Tewari said.
He said India’s position on cross-border terrorism is largely accepted by the world now. “When you have such bigotry on display, it does, to some extent undermine the moral position. To that extent involvement of the RSS and their affiliates is definitely anti-national,” he said.
Answering queries about the name of Indersh Kumar not being among the accused in the case, he said that the scale of involvement will become clear as the trial proceeds.
Rajasthan Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Friday filed a charge-sheet in a court in Ajmer and said that a senior RSS leader (Indresh Kumar) was present when the conspiracy to carry out a blast at the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti shrine in Ajmer was hatched.
However, Indresh Kumar has not been named as an accused in the charge-sheet.
Holding supporters of Abhinav Bharat responsible for the Oct 11, 2007 blast, in which three people were killed and 30 injured, the ATS has charged Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chander Shekhar Lave, Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre with murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, harming or defiling place of worship and other crimes.