HINDU TERRORISM

(JUST FOR REFERENCE!!)

It was in the aftermath of the September 29/2009 bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon in Maharashtra that these terms came to be used widely.[4]

Kanchan Gupta and Swapan Dasgupta, both journalists, have accused investigators of leaking statements about saffron terror to the media to promote the agenda of the Indian National Congress,[5][6] One report, in a local newspaper [Hyderabad Journal, alleges that India's Intelligence Bureau may have been behind the Mecca Masjid bombing.[7]

The BJP's former president, Rajnath Singh, has denounced claims of Hindu terrorists as "vilification of Hindu saints and army officers in the name of Hindu terrorism".[8]

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had been raising the issue of "Hindutva terrorism" at least since October 2008 when he wrote about it to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,[9] statements that earned criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a show-cause notice from the Election Commission of India.[10] P. Chidambaram urged Indians to beware of "Saffron terror" on August 25, 2010. This was the first time the word was "officially" used by the Indian National Congress-led government.[1] Since making the remark, a Hindu Swami in the Patan district has filed a defamation lawsuit against Chidambaram, on the grounds that the saffron color is a conventional Hindu symbol and worn regularly by Hindu religious clergy, and that Chidambaram has hurt the sentiments of Hindus by linking the symbol to terrorism.[11] Chidambaram responded by stating "I cannot claim patent on the phrase."[12] On September 6, 2010 a Gujarat court ordered a probe into the use of the term by Chidambaram.[13] Chidambaram was also criticized by members of his own party (the Indian National Congress) for the use of the term, with Congress spokesman Janardhan Dwivedi claiming "terrorism does not have any colour other than black".[14] However, it has more than often been proved that the term "Hindu terror" is used more for the political agenda of some political parties seeking to garner the minority vote share in India. Several people say that just because some of the perpetrators of the crime are Hindu, their acts should not be linked to Hinduism, a view seemingly endorsed by many in India.

In late 2008, Indian police arrested members of a Hindu radical cell allegedly involved in an attack Malegaon which killed 7 Muslims.[15] For incidents like these, Saffron terror has been used synonymously with "Anti-Muslim terrorism" or "Anti-Muslim reprisals".[16]
[edit] Alleged examples of Saffron terror

Bomb blasts in India which have allegedly been perpetrated by Hindu extremist organisations include 2006 Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid bombing (Hyderabad), and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah Blast[17][18][19][20][21]

It was in the aftermath of the September 29 bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon in Maharashtra that the terms Saffron Terror and Hindutva Terror came to be used widely in various medias.[22] However, the accused parties confessed to police on narco-analysis that they conspired with Muslim groups for the blasts.[23] However, Purohit allegedly admitted that a splinter group with tenuous ties to him had executed two blasts in India, which prompted investigators to look into the blasts in Ajmer and Hyderabad.[24]

Three men accused of the 2006 Malegaon bombings, including Lt Col Shrikant Purohit of the India army and Pragya Singh Thakur, have been described as representing Saffron terror.[25][26] Purohit was also accused of being involved in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings until the role of Pakistani terrorist Asif Zamani was unearthed.[27][28] A United States Department of the Treasury report links these bombings to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda.[29]

While the United Progressive Alliance-led central government has claimed that Abhinav Bharat was behind the Mecca Masjid bombing,[30] the South Asia Terrorism Portal,[31] the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses,[32] the United States,[33] and the United Nations[34] have asserted that the Islamic outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was actually behind the attacks. Noting this, security analyst Bahukutumbi Raman has questioned "the two different versions that have emerged from Indian and American investigators."[29] On September 22, 2010 a report submitted by the United States National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to the United States Department of Homeland Security, named HuJi responsible for the blasts. The CBI claimed in their response that the NCTC "do not seem to be updated with developments in the case"[35]

Members of Abhinav Bharat have recently been alleged to have been involved in a plot to kill Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh President Mohan Bhagwat.[36] allegedly with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.[37] Headlines Today released a recorded video tested by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory which indicated the uncovering of an alleged plot to assassinate the Vice President of India Hamid Ansari.