SP, Congress weakening fight against terror: Amit Shah

Union Home minister Amit Shah on Monday accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of 'weakening' India's fight against terrorism saying that they have batted for the release of terrorists in the past. Shah lashed out at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav saying he wears spectacles which makes him see a particular religion from one eye and a particular caste from the other.

Shah was addressing rallies in Sitapur, Pilibhit and Barabanki on the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of the UP polls ahead of voting on Wednesday. Barabanki votes in the fifth phase.

His comments came a day after prime minister Narendra Modi slammed the SP for withdrawing cases against the terror accused in the state. Responding to a question about the PM's statement on Sunday, Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, Priyanka Gandhi, said in Lucknow on Monday that she did not have time for such 'fizool' (useless) topics like terrorism when other more burning issues like unemployment, stray cattle etc needed to be discussed.


"On one hand, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi says it is 'fizul ki baat' to check terrorism, on the other, her party leader Salman Khurshid used to say that SIMI people caught for the Ahmedabad blasts are innocent and they should be released. He also defended them," Shah said in Pilibhit.

He said that Akhilesh Yadav had promised in his 2012 manifesto that he will release the terror accused of the Sankat Mochan and Lucknow bombings and that all those terrorists would have been released had the Allahabad HC not intervened.

"SP, BSP, Congress do appeasement politics, insult the armed forces, bail out terrorists. BJP works for the poor, youth, women," he said in Sitapur. He also reached out to the Sikh population of Pilibhit saying the sacrifice made by the Sikh gurus could not be forgotten. "We have read the history of the world. In remembrance of the Sahibzadas, our prime minister named Veer Bal Diwas," he said.