BJP holds nation-wide protests against Shinde's 'Hindu terror' remark, police water-cannon protesters

Newly elected party president Rajnath Singh along with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj spearheaded the protest in the national capital.

Rajnath Singh had earlier lashed out at Shinde over his controversial remark, saying that the Home Minister should have refrained from making statements of the kind he made against the BJP and RSS in order to ensure that credibility of the political system is maintained.

"Sushil Kumar Shinde is the Home Minister of the country and should not have made such statements," Singh said.

Shinde had made the controversial remark on the final day of the Congress Party''s Chintan Shivir in Jaipur. He had accused the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of holding terror training camps and promoting "Hindu terrorism" in the country.

The statement immediately invited condemnation from both the BJP and the RSS. They have demanded Shinde''s immediate sacking from the Union Cabinet, and apologies from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi.

"The recent statement of the home minister shows the government is not serious about fighting terrorism. Just for votebank politics, they are poisoning the atmosphere of the nation with communalism," said Rajnath Singh, while addressing party leaders and workers soon after his election as the BJP''s next president on Wednesday.

He said the BJP has worked in the past to ensure that the nation remains united.

"If anyone has taken on anti-national policies, it is the RSS and the BJP. We will hold massive countrywide protests against Shinde from Thursday, and we wholeheartedly condemn his statement," he added.

He emphasised that the BJP has continually worked for the nation''s progress and it was needed now more than ever, given the manner in which the country was being dragged down by the Congress-led UPA Government.

The BJP president further blamed the Congress for the economic slowdown and inflation in the country and said politics should not be done just to form the government, but to ensure that people benefit from it.

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