New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Rahul Gandhi believes that terrorism of all kinds were a threat to India, the Congress said Friday, reacting to the WikiLeaks cable release about the party general secretary's remarks on Hindu radical groups.
'Rahul Gandhi's view is that terrorism and communalism of all types is a threat to India. We need to remain vigilant against acts of terrorism of all kinds, no matter who commits them,' Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a statement.
Dwivedi's statement came minutes after party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the party would comment on the Wikileaks cable release about Gandhi's remarks on Hindu radical groups after verifying its authenticity.
'We will inquire into this matter, verify its authenticity and let you know thereafter,' Singhvi told reporters while replying to queries about Gandhi's comments carried by Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Another party spokesman Manish Tewari, who read out Dwivedi's statement, said that 'terrorism had no religion or community'.
'Fighting terrorism is the duty of every Indian. Congress always believes in this,' Tewari said.
Gandhi last year told US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer that 'the growth of radicalised Hindu groups' may be a 'bigger threat' to India than support to some Islamic terror groups from the Muslim community, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The Congress MP said that although 'there was evidence of some support for (Islamic terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba) among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community', the Guardian reported Friday.
On the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reaction that Gandhi's comments were irresponsible, Singhvi said the opposition party kept making such statements.
'Do people listen to such allegations,' Singhvi asked.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier said: 'BJP condemns the statement, which is irresponsible. If Rahul is worried about Hindu terror, he must speak in parliament...It shows how little he knows about India.'
Rahul Gandhi warns US of Hindu extremist groups: WikiLeaks
ReplyDeleteThis could well turn out to be the most controversial ‘Leaks’ connected to India. President of the Youth Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi is reported to have told the American ambassador last year that Hindu extremist groups could pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants. Guardian's report.
The Gandhi scion is said to have warned Timothy Roemer that though "there was evidence of some support for [Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba] among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community"
As per the Hindu -
His words were revealed in one of 4,000 leaked U.S. diplomatic cables sent from Delhi. The cables reveal a difficult but increasingly warm relationship between a prickly emerging power and a superpower keen to be friends but on its own terms.
At a time when the young Gandhi scion is being pitched as the next Prime ministerial candidate, this kind of a revelation could prove dangerous for the Congress party. Already struggling with the scams and almost inconsequential Winter session, the ruling party may have to do some more tight rope walk before the year end.
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has dominated the news, both because of its steady drip feed of secret documents, but also because of the dealings of its enigmatic front man Julian Assange.
ReplyDeleteThe recent release of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables is just the latest in a long list of "leaks" published by the secretive site, which has established a reputation for publishing sensitive material from governments and other high-profile organisations.
In October the site released almost 400,000 secret US military logs detailing its operations in Iraq.
They followed hot on the heels of nearly 90,000 classified military records, which gave an insight into the military strategy in Afghanistan.
And in April 2010, for example, Wikileaks posted a video on its website that shows a US Apache helicopter killing at least 12 people - including two Reuters journalists - during an attack in Baghdad in 2007.
A US military analyst is currently awaiting trial, on charges of leaking the material along with the cables and military documents.
Legal wrangles
However, the site's recent prominence is part of a longer and controversial history that started in December 2006, when it first hit the net.
Since that time it has split opinion.
For some it is lauded as the future of investigative journalism; it has been described as the world's first stateless news organisation.
For others - particularly the governments and corporations whose secrets it exposes - it is a risk.
In October 2009, it posted a list of names and addresses of people it claimed belonged to the British National Party (BNP). The BNP said the list was a "malicious forgery".
And during the 2008 US elections, it published screenshots of the e-mail inbox, pictures and address book of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Other controversial documents hosted on the site include a copy of the Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta, a document that detailed restrictions placed on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.