Congress redefines colour of terrorism: Black, not Saffron

New Delhi: In an apparent balancing act, the Congress today appeared to distance itself from the "saffron terrorism" remarks of Home Minister P Chidambaram, saying terror has no colour. With BJP and Shiv Sena seeking to rake up a controversy over the minister's remarks in a conference of DGPs on Wednesday, Congress General Secretary and media department chief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters the controversy has erupted because of a word.

"As far as saffron or bhagwa or kesariya (other words for saffron) it was not an issue. The issue was terrorism. Terrorism does not have colour. Terrorism has only one colour and it is black." "Whether you call it saffron, green, white or red, can you associate terrorism with one colour?" he asked.
Dwivedi said: "Terrorism is terrorism and it should be opposed in whatever form it comes. The saffron colour has been part of our ancient tradition and is associated with our freedom struggle. No particular section of society has sole right on it." Probably worried that Hindutva outfits could exploit the words "saffron terror", he said no section could appropriate the saffron colour.
Earlier, despite being isolated in the Rajya Sabha on the 'saffron terror' issue, the BJP continued to target Home Minister P Chidambaram for his remarks and asked him not to link religion with terrorism.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters outside Parliament that terror should not be linked with any religion and that it was most unfortunate that the Home Minister of the country kept making such statements. He said the Home Minister was generalising the issue of terror to brand a community.

BJP today found itself isolated in the Upper House in its protest against Chidambaram's statement on rise in 'saffron terrorism', with Left and other opposition parties joining hands with Congress to target the main opposition.
When the House re-assembled at Zero Hour after two adjournments on the same issue, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) contested Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley's remark that he represents a large section of the House in speaking against
Chidambaram's views about saffron terror. "He is certainly not (representing the whole House)," she said in the Rajya Sabha adding that Jaitley could have spoken on behalf of his party. Karat told reporters outside the House that this was not a question of semantics.

The issue was about groups claiming to be functioning in the name of Hindutva or using the word Hindu or Hindutva in describing themselves were accused of committing acts of terror, including bomb blasts at masjids, she said. "When the Leader of the Opposition (in Rajya Sabha) makes a statement, surely the nation can expect that he should condemn those acts and say he condemn those operating in the name of Hindutva as they have nothing to do about that religion.
"Instead of saying that to defend it and making it a matter of semantics is not a symbol of nationalism," the Left leader added. LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan asked the government to take strict action against groups involved in terror activities and said the RSS was the fountainhead of such outfits. He also criticised the security agencies for rushing to implicate youths from the Muslim community whenever a terror attack took place and asked them show restraint.
Source: The Indian Express