BJP and RSS must come clean'

Interview with Digvijay Singh, Congress general secretary.

DIGVIJAY SINGH, Congress general secretary, does not mince words in condemning the new face of terror. He is particularly forthright with his views on the activities of some groups claiming to owe allegiance to Hindutva forces. Having dealt with such activities in Madhya Pradesh as the Chief Minister of that State, he is aware of the societal rifts that can develop if such forces are allowed to grow. Excerpts from an interview he gave Frontline:

How real and palpable is the face of Hindu terror? You had raised the issue in 2008 itself and even written to the Prime Minister about it. Your stand seems to have been vindicated.

The issue is that of ideology. It is a conflict between an ideology of tolerance and one of intolerance, between an ideology of secularism and one of rabid communalism. I have been saying this since 1992. L.K. Advani's rath yatra totally divided Hindus and Muslims, and wherever he went, there were communal riots, and the rest is history. The first case of Hindu terror was witnessed in 1992 at Neemuch in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh. The lights went off when a bomb was being assembled at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad [VHP] office. Somebody struck a match and there was a blast in which one worker died and some others sustained injuries. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party was in the government, the case was not allowed to proceed.

After that [when the Congress came to power], as Chief Minister, I dealt with the fanatic Hindu and Muslim groups. I took a tough stand and there was a standing instruction to the administration that stringent action should be taken against anyone who spreads the ideology of hatred. One maulana in Dhar district wrote a damaging article and he had to face the consequences. Similarly, Sadhvi Rithambara made an inflammatory speech at the same place where VHP workers had murdered a Christian nurse. The administration filed a case against her and she was arrested. Similarly, Acharya Dharmendra gave an inflammatory speech at Dewas and the administration took action against him also. At the same time, I proposed to the Government of India that it ban SIMI [Students Islamic Movement of India] and the Bajrang Dal. I did not allow their national conferences to be held in Bhopal. Because of these measures there was not a single incident of communal riots in the State during the 10 years of my tenure.

In 2002, there was a bomb blast at a temple in Mhow. During police investigation, six Bajrang Dal, VHP and RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh] workers were named, of whom four were arrested. The arrested persons confessed they were given training in bomb-making by Sunil Joshi and Ramji Kalsangra and that they had thrown the bomb into the temple.

The Malwa region, particularly the divisions of Indore and Ujjain, has become a centre for Hindu and Muslim fanatics. SIMI and the RSS and its sister organisations are very strong in this area and they are complementary to each other. Credit goes to Hemant Karkare [Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief, who was killed during the Mumbai terror attack in 2008] and his colleagues for making a breakthrough in the Malegaon blast case. The motorcycle carrying the bombs that were exploded in Malegaon belonged to Sunil Joshi, one of the accused in the bomb blast and in the Ninama murder case in Indore.

Ramji Kalsangra was also involved in the Malegaon blast. If you see the pattern of the blasts in Malegaon, Ajmer, on the Samjhauta Express or at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the technique used is the same. The [Maharashtra] ATS, after arresting Lt Col S.P. Purohit, interrogated him, and he confessed that he had taken 18 kilograms of RDX [research department explosive], which was used in the blasts, when he was posted in Kashmir Valley.

Investigation has also shown the clear strategy of these fanatics, to first make the blasts happen and then blame Muslims. In Nanded in 2006, a blast occurred in the house of an RSS worker when they were making bombs. Four VHP and Bajrang Dal workers were killed. In Kanpur, two RSS workers were killed while they were assembling bombs. There is a definite strategy adopted by Hindu fundamentalists in acts of terrorism in India. The BJP and the RSS, instead of defending these people, must come clean and control these rabid fundamentalists.

Is there a need for a special cell to monitor such developments or should agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in addition to the Central Bureau of Investigation, be involved.

I strongly feel that all cases relating to terrorism, whether the accused are Hindus or Muslims, must be investigated by the NIA so that the investigation takes place under one umbrella. It would move much faster than when investigated by a State agency. For instance, the Haryana Police had clear evidence in the Samjhauta Express case that the suitcase had been bought from a shop in Indore, but could not get the support and cooperation of the Madhya Pradesh Police in Indore. Because of this the investigation has come to a standstill. All such cases must be investigated by the NIA.

The BJP has maintained that the Congress, by raising the issue of Hindu versus Muslim terror, is deflecting attention from real terrorism.

This is exactly what we expected them to say. Until now they have been targeting Muslims. And I have a genuine complaint against the media as well. After every bomb blast, they give the names of Muslim youth and ultimately the investigation reveals nothing. Even after the Pune blast, a Muslim youth was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS and the arrest was confirmed by the Home Ministry. After a few weeks they released him for lack of evidence. The then BJP president, Rajnath Singh, made the arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur an issue and went to the extent of doubting the integrity and honesty of a man like Hemant Karkare.

In fact, we have been saying from the very beginning that acts of terrorism cannot be divided into Hindu and Muslim. They have to be seen as acts of terror, acts of violence, and should be dealt with firmly, irrespective of the caste, creed, religion or community of the accused.

On the one hand, the Congress is accused of appeasing the minority community. On the other, there is a feeling that the UPA government is not really coming down heavily on organisations whose names have repeatedly come up in the course of investigations and the process of investigation itself is tardy in the face of direct evidence.

The Congress does not believe in either a Hindu or a Muslim vote bank. It has fought communalism, fundamentalism, in the 1930s. We fought against the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha. The Congress has never compromised with fanatic Hindu thought or fanatic Muslim thought.

Do you think banning such organisations is an option?

No, I do not think banning is a solution. The same ideology and the same people can set up an organisation under a different name. The RSS itself has more than a thousand organisations. Similarly, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, too, has a front organisation that does charity work. It is the people behind this ideology whether Hindu or Muslim who have to be closely followed and investigated. For example, elements within the RSS itself have alleged that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar were receiving money from the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence]. I am not alleging this. I think all these allegations should be closely investigated.

It is time to take both Hindu and Muslim terror together. Terrorism as a subject should be taken seriously. All such cases should be investigated by the NIA and all those involved in the ideology of hate should be punished. I hope the Communal Violence Bill [2005] includes provisions that enable the arrest of proponents of the ideology of hate under strong sections of the law.