PC loves saffron, Cong chooses to be colour blind

The Congress is mastering the art of doublespeak, until now a preserve of the BJP. The party, extremely wary of a backlash to Home Minister P Chidambram’s loaded ‘ saffron terror’ remarks, was in a tearing hurry on Friday to explain that ‘ terror has no colour’. “ The issue was of terror.

Terror has no colour. Terror is black. Saffron was part of freedom struggle, mythology, and ancient history. It cannot be the prerogative of any political party,” Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said, appearing to distance itself from Chidambaram’s remarks.

Others within the party, too, tried to brush aside the controversy. Party spokesperson Manish Tiwari said that there was no need to get bogged down in nomenclature but to look at the substance of the Home Minister’s remarks on the activities of organizations affiliated to right- wing ideology which have been found to be involved in acts of terror.

Earlier, there was a furore in the Rajya Sabha over the remarks with the BJP and Shiv Sena demanding their withdrawal. The two allies accused the government of giving a religious hue to terrorism for political reasons. The BJP even accused Chidambaram of insulting India’s national flag -– the Tricolour – of which saffron is one of the colours.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said Chidambaram was fighting an “ imaginary” battle against saffron terror instead of concentrating on fighting Maoists and tackling the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. BJP leader Rajnath Singh saw in the remarks a “ conspiracy” by the Congress- led UPA government to “ demoralise nationalistic forces”. Averring that the home minister has committed a blunder, Singh said: “ Terror has no caste, creed or religion. Moreover, those believing in Hindutva or Indian culture can never be terrorists.” Addressing a meet of top policemen in Vigyan Bhawan, Chidambaram had said on Thursday, “ There is no let- up in the attempts to radicalise young men and women in India. There has been a recent uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts in the past. My advice to you is that we must remain ever vigilant and continue to build, at both Central and state level, our capacities in counter- terrorism.” Understandably livid, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi warned the Home Minister against making such remarks again. Joshi said, “ Such remarks could have dangerous repercussions.” In a discussion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, BJP MP from Gorakhpur ogi Adityanath lashed out at Chidambaram and called him mentally unstable.

“ On the internal security issue, Chidambaram has flopped badly. He is just trying to divert attention. His statement is not only anti- Hindu, but against the nation. Only someone with a psychological problem can think like this.

His mental condition should be checked,” Adityanath said.

Chidambaram has in the past rubbed colleagues within the Congress on the wrong side, too. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had lambasted the Home Minister on his approach against the Naxals. The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had even called him ‘ intellectually arrogant’ in a write up in a business daily. In a recent interview on a television channel, Singh reiterated his views on Naxalism and claimed he had only voiced the party’s views.

Besides Singh, Chidambaram has several other detractors within the Congress who do not quite agree with his ‘ high handed’ approach.