Digvijay objects to Chidambaram’s saffron terror remarks

NEW DELHI - Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who had earlier differed with Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his policy to counter Maoists, has now objected to his use of words “saffron terrorism”.

Singh said that saffron colour was associated with valour in the country’s ethos and terrorism cannot be related to any colour, creed or religion.

“It (terrorism) arises from fundamentalists of any religion, be it Hindus or Muslims,” Singh told reporters here.

He said party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had taken the right stand that colour cannot be related to terrorism.

However, Singh also added that he was happy that the home minister had taken note of acts of terrorism by Hindu fundamentalists.

He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should come clean on involvement of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and rightwing activists in incidents of terror.

Singh said Congress had never used the word saffron while describing Hindu fundamentalists and the word probably had been coined by the Left parties.

Earlier in the day, Chidambaram told reporters that he used the word saffron terrorism to convey the message that a few rightwing religious groups were behind some terror blasts in India.

“I cannot claim the patent on the phrase. The phrase has been used in the past… The message ought not to be lost in phrases. And perhaps the use of that phrase has brought the message home. So, the purpose in a way has been served,” he said.

The home minister was asked about the objection raised by the BJP in parliament after he cautioned security and intelligence officials at an internal security meeting against “recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism”.

Singh had said in a newspaper article in April that the home minister was treating Maoist challenge as a law and order issue while the problem should be looked at holistically.