Mail Today
24 January 2009
BJP leader & Malegaon plotters met in Faridabad’
by Krishna Kumar in Mumbai
THE SANGH Parivar links of the Hindutva terror suspects caught for bombing Malegaon on September 29, 2008, have been documented. But it seems some BJP leaders too attended their meetings, according to the Maharashtra Anti- Terrorism Squad’s ( ATS) chargesheet submitted to the MCOCA court in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The ATS claims that a BJP leader and two- time parliamentarian, one ‘ Sharma’, was present at a meeting where one of the alleged conspirators had charted out the terror group’s sociopolitical agenda.
While the former parliamentarian’s presence is referred to in a conversation allegedly recorded by fake Sankaracharya Dayanand Pandey on his laptop, another shocking revelation was made by a witness who claimed that the group had planned to kill 75 politicians in order to roll out the Hindutva juggernaut.
It was not just RSS leader Indresh who was on Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit’s radar. He had a hit list of 75 people to be eliminated if they impeded the mission of a new nation fashioned on the Godse- Savarkar brand of Hindutva. The prosecution witness, who interestingly is an RSS functionary and an office- bearer of the World Hindu Forum and whose name has been withheld, talks about a conversation during the Abhinav Bharat meeting at Faridabad on January 26 last year.
According to witness no. 112, he was introduced to their notion of a Hindu nation by Pandey. The witness claims Purohit spoke of having talks with Israel and Thailand governments for help. “ In that meeting, Purohit said that if any one tries to oppose his Hindu Aryavrat government, he would be excommunicated and killed. A list of 75 men ( who might oppose him) was made,” the witness revealed to the police.
The ATS chargesheet says some senior Sangh Parivar leaders were part of this meeting at Parvat Mandir in Faridabad: Uttar Pradesh RSS pracharak Rajeshwar Singh, Hindu Mahasabha member in Delhi Ayodhaya Prasad Tripathi and VHP officebearer and former BJP parliamentarian B. L. Sharma ‘ Prem’. Apart from Abhinav Bharat’s Samir Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Purohit, some retired and serving army officers attended the meeting, including Col Dhar and retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay.
The Malegaon bombers had also pinned their hopes on BJP coming to power at the Centre with a two- thirds majority and declaring the nation a Hindu Rashtra and imposing hardline Hindutva.
The witness quotes Upadhaya as having said, “ We will maintain a two- pronged attack. One, the government- in- exile will keep working. The second option: if, God willing, it ( the BJP) gets a two- thirds majority, then we will break them ( opponents).” Purohit’s statement also mentions this exchange between him and Upadhyay as having been made in the presence of a former BJP parliamentarian who was also an RSS activist.
The witness also quotes Purohit in one of the exchanges as saying that the group should adopt the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s definition of a Hindu. “ The VHP has given a very beautiful explanation of panchrang ... No Hindu is wrong, a Hindu is a Hindu, a Hindu can never be wrong,” Purohit is supposed to have said.
The group’s hatred for the Congress and appreciation for BJP leaders like Advani too are evident from contents of the ATS chargesheet.
Purohit had theorised that after Independence, the British were ruling by proxy through the Congress.
Purohit wanted to provoke the Muslim community by attacking them and prompting them to retaliate.
“ There are four kinds of caste here: Communists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus. It could be a big achievement if we could unite these Muslims. The Maharashtra chief minister ( then Vilasrao Deshmukh) says our Muslims aren’t like Kashmiri Muslims... Once we start striking, then Imam Bukhari would stand up and ask about Maharashtra and then all of them would be one,” Purohit is quoted as saying.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar refused to comment on the ATS chargesheet and purported recording of conversations of the accused revealing their BJP connection.
“ The matter is before the court. There is a chargesheet. Let the court adjudicate,” he said.
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