Advani wants ATS out, Rajnath warns of civil war danger

BJP top brass went all out to target Congress-led UPA Govt over handling of Malegaon blast probe. While L K Advani accused Maharashtra ATS of 'acting in a politically motivated and unprofessional manner', Rajnath Singh warned that unchecked terror could push the country towards a 'griha yudh'.

The BJP top brass went all out to target the Congress-led UPA government over the handling of the Malegaon blast probe. While L K Advani accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of “acting in a politically motivated and unprofessional manner” and meting out “barbaric treatment” to blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Rajnath Singh slammed the Congress for “coining terms like Muslim terrorism and Hindu terrorism”, warning that unchecked terror could push the country towards a “griha yudh (civil war)”.

Addressing a traders’ rally in Lucknow, Rajnath Singh said: “Activities of terrorists have registered a growth when the BJP is not in power. And if these activities are not checked, then it will lead to a civil war.”

At a press conference later, Singh said: “It is most unfortunate that neither Congress nor any of the so-called secular parties have condemned forces who have coined the term Hindu terrorism and I want to ask whether this government is out to pit Hindu terrorism against Islamic terrorism to serve their political interests. BJP has never communalised terrorism as it believes it should not be attached to any caste or religion.”

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Speaking in Chhattisgarh during his tour of the state, Advani demanded that the ATS team probing the Malegaon blast be changed.

“So far, I had refrained from commenting on the allegations levelled by the Maharashtra ATS against Sadhvi

Pragya and her supposed associates. But after going through her affidavit detailing how she was physically and psychologically tortured and abused in obscene language by her interrogators, I have to express my shock and outrage. I demand a change in the present ATS team and a judicial inquiry be ordered to probe the charges made by Sadhvi Pragya and the manner in which unsubstantiated allegations have been made against Army personnel,” Advani said.

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