Cong ticks off Chidambaram for ‘saffron terror’ remark

NEW DELHI: Congress has rebuffed home minister P Chidambaram for his phrase, ‘ saffron terror’. Party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi on Friday sent out a clear message that Congress did not approve of the minister’s categorisation of terror.

“This controversy has started because of a word. The agenda (of the conference where the home minister made the controversial statement) was not saffron, it was terrorism and terrorism has no colour. It is completely black in colour, whether you associate terrorism with saffron, red, green, or white, it can never be connected to any colour.

Terrorism should be condemned. It is important to be restrained in using the language. Most importantly people should not object to any colour as every colour has its own tradition and history,” Mr Dwivedi said.

Mr Chidambaram’s statement about ‘saffron terror’ had come as a surprise to many in Congress as it went against its oft-repeated assertion that terror has no religion or colour. Even when major attacks on India pointed to the role of jihadi outfits, the government maintained political correctness and refrained from labelling it as Islamic terror.

That the party feared a Hindu backlash over the statement of the minister was clear when Mr Dwivedi took pains to underline Congress’ respect for the saffron colour. “Saffron is associated with the history of independence, it is associated with our mythology. Most importantly no colour represents a community, a group, for that matter the politics of the country,” Mr Dwivedi said.

The issue has triggered a political storm, with BJP and the Shiv Sena taking strong exception to attempts to link terror with saffron. The two parties raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

As soon as the House met for the day, Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi raised the issue of the home minister’s attempts to categorise terrorism on religious lines. “There cannot be Bhagwa (saffron) terrorism,” he said demanding that Mr Chidambaram should give names of people connected with terror when making such statements.

He found support from BJP members who shouted slogans like Hinduon ka apman nahi chalega (insult to Hindus will not be tolerated).

Chairman Hamid Ansari said no one was being heard with so many people speaking simultaneously and asked members to allow Question Hour to proceed.

“We have important questions. Please allow Question Hour to proceed,’’ he said as he called Opposition leader of House Arun Jaitley to speak on the issue.

But the BJP leader could not speak as members from the ruling benches and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan countered him. The former Union minister made a reference to RSS’ association with terrorism, leading to BJP members rushing into the well shouting slogans like RSS ka apman nahi chalega (insult to RSS will not be tolerated).

The Rajya Sabha chairman first asked members to return to the places but when they did not relent, he adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled, Mr Jaitley said there was a legitimate grievance among a large section of the House on the use of the expression by the home minister.