Heated debate in Gujarat house on ’saffron terrorism’

GANDHINAGAR - Heated exchanges were witnessed in the Gujarat assembly here Tuesday during a discussion on the use of term “saffron terrorism” by union Home Minister P. Chidambaram recently.

The discussion, sought by a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, saw the treasury benches hit out at the United Progressive Alliance central government for insulting the Hindu faith and its saints by coining the term “saffron terrorism” as part of its vote-bank politics.

The opposition Congress countered the BJP by saying that it was during the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) central government that major terrorist strikes had taken place in the country.

BJP legislator Dilipsinh Parmar, who sought the discussion on the last day of the session, charged the Congress with deliberately creating confusion by talking about “saffron terrorism” when the real issue before the country was that of jehadi terrorism.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said: “Terrorism has no caste, creed, colour or religion. Terrorism is plain terrorism and has to be combated as such.”

The discussion developed into a no-holds-barred attack on the UPA government by the BJP members with the Congress hitting back by recalling terrorism-related incidents during the NDA’s tenure.

The opposition also pointed to Gujarat’s former minister of state for Amit Shah, who is behind bars on murder and extortion charges.

The BJP members wanted more time for discussion but the Congress insisted that only one hour had been allotted for it and even the speaker did not have the powers to prolong the duration of the discussion.

On Aug 25, Chidambaram, while addressing a conference of police chiefs from different states in Delhi, said: “There is this recently uncovered phenomena of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past.”