Post Malegaon verdict, Congress distances itself from ‘saffron terror' as BJP slams it for ‘defaming Hindus'

The Print

a day ago

Minutes after the judgement, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on X,' ' Atankvaad bhagwa na kabhi tha, na hain, na rahega (Terrorism never was, is or will be saffron).'
On Thursday, as a special NIA court acquitted all seven accused including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon terror blast case, the BJP went to town slamming the Congress for allegedly pushing the term saffron terror and 'defaming' Hindus.
Mumbai: It was mainly after the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast that the Congress vociferously raised red flags on terrorism allegedly sponsored by Hindutva groups, with leaders such as P Chidambaram, Digvijaya Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde even giving it a label—'saffron terror'.
Later, speaking to reporters, Fadnavis demanded that the Congress apologise for trying to defame the entire Hindu community.
'The Congress-led UPA government tried to set a narrative of saffron terror to appease the minorities during elections. Today's judgement shows how false that narrative was. The way the UPA and Congress conspired to show saffron terror, was wrong. The Congress should apologise to the entire Hindu community for trying to paint them as terrorists,' he said.
Similarly, BJP's Mohan Yadav, the CM of Madhya Pradesh, from where Pragya Singh Thakur hails, in a post on X also said that a 'Hindu cannot be a terrorist'.
'This decision is a strong reply to those who insulted Sanatan Dharma, saints and saffron. Congress should publicly apologise to all Sanatanis,' Yadav said.
Meanwhile, ahead of local body polls scheduled across Maharashtra, the Congress, which has over the years visibly climbed down from its once-firm stance on 'saffron terror', struck a more cautious tone, demanding justice for the victims, but while steering clear of any references to the phrase. Leaders from both parties, instead, maintained that terror has no religion.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh said BJP leaders are 'completely wrong' when they say that the Congress had coined the term saffron terror.
He added, 'There is no terrorism coloured with religion. There is neither Hindu terror, nor Islamic terror. Every religion represents love, harmony, truth and non-violence. There are only a few people who weaponise religion as hatred.'
Back in Maharashtra, state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, speaking to reporters, said the government should focus on giving answers regarding who was ultimately responsible for the Malegaon blast rather than pointing fingers at others.
'A blast did happen. We all saw it. So, if the accused have been acquitted, who was responsible?' Sapkal said. 'The Congress is against terror and every terrorist should be punished. The first act of terror after independence was the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. From there till Pahalgam, we have condemned all acts of terror. Terror has no religion. Terror has no colour.'
Also Read: 'Grave suspicion but not enough proof'—what NIA court said as it acquitted Malegaon blast accused
'A long-term political conspiracy exposed'
After the Malegaon blast, senior Congress leaders such as Sushil Kumar Shinde, Digvijaya Singh and Chidambaram had flogged the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for allegedly encouraging fringe Hindutva groups.
BJP leaders, meanwhile, repeatedly accused Congress of using the term 'saffron terror' to defame the Hindu religion simply to woo the minorities, a charge they threw at the party again on Thursday, after the verdict.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Maharashtra BJP president and a minister in the Fadnavis cabinet, said, 'The honourable court noted that there was no concrete evidence behind any of the allegations. But, a more serious matter is that the Congress deliberately used the term 'Hindu terrorism' in its propaganda attempting to defame the Hindu community and faith worldwide.'
'The Congress committed an unforgivable crime by trying to place Hindutva, which has been a symbol of humanity and tolerance for centuries, in the ranks of terrorists,' Bawankule said, adding the court's decision was a 'resounding slap' to those who defamed Hindus.
BJP minister Nitesh Rane went one step forward by saying the only colour of terror is green. 'What has become clear is that the colour of terrorism and the colour of jihad can only be green…No person of the Hindu community tries to expand his religion by looking down on another religion. No Hindu tries to break a religious structure and build his own temple.'
Elections are expected to be held across rural local bodies and urban local bodies in Maharashtra within the next year and the BJP is likely to use the verdict to consolidate its Hindutva voter base, analysts say.
'Maharashtra has been a major laboratory for the BJP to experiment and despite several experiments it hasn't been able to extend its power across the state completely. In this quest, the BJP has penetrated small local-level religious organisations, and created deep social media networks using platforms such as Whatsapp to spread its message,' Dr Sanjay Patil, researcher at Mumbai University's politics and civics department, told ThePrint.
'With this judgement, the BJP gets to play the victim card despite being in power,' he added.
The verdict has also given a fresh salvo to the BJP against the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), its prime contender for the Hindutva agenda on the rival side.
The undivided Shiv Sena under founder Bal Thackeray had openly supported Thakur, Purohit and the other accused in the Malegaon case in 2008. At one of the hearings for remand of the accused, Shiv Saniks had gathered outside a Nashik court where the accused were presented and showered flower petals over them.
On Thursday, Shiv Sena (UBT), now an ally of the Congress, stayed clear of commenting on the verdict, but trained its guns on the home ministry instead.
Party MP Arvind Sawant said, 'It won't be appropriate to comment on the court's decision. But there are two questions. Why do these cases get so delayed? In the train blasts case too, the accused who were acquitted had to spend 19 years under trial. The incidents have happened, but unfortunately the police cannot find the real accused, and there can't be a worse black mark on the home ministry.'
The BJP's campaign against Congress over 'saffron terror' post the Malegaon verdict also had echoes of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's words in the Lok Sabha a day prior. On Wednesday, speaking during the Op Sindoor debate, Shah said, 'I can proudly say before everyone today that Hindu can never be a terrorist.'
The Congress climbdown on 'saffron terror'
Over the last few years, the Congress has often made a deliberate attempt to distance itself from the term 'saffron terror'.
For instance, in 2018, when the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad had arrested four Hindutva activists in connection with its probe into an alleged conspiracy to organise attacks in five cities of Maharashtra, the Congress was largely silent.
Other than the then Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan—who is now with the BJP—demanding a ban on Sanathan Sanstha and Chidambaram questioning if the BJP and the RSS planned to condemn those organising the attacks, no senior leader made any strong statements on the arrests.
Mumbai University's Dr Patil said, 'Using the term saffron terror had actually hurt the Congress even back then. In this political climate, it can't afford to push that agenda again. Some of the party's senior leaders admit in confidence that the Congress doesn't know how to present its stand on Hindutva properly.'
Almost immediately after first using the term 'saffron terror' at a Congress conclave in Jaipur in 2013, former Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had apologised and said his comments were misunderstood, and that he did not mean to link any religion with terrorism.
Years later, in 2024, Shinde in his book, Five Decades in Politics, distanced himself from the term saying he did not coin it, but had first read it in one of the confidential files of the Union Home Ministry.
In the same thread, Gujarat Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi, speaking to the media in Delhi after the verdict Thursday, alleged that the term 'saffron terror' was coined by the then Union Home Secretary RK Singh, a former IAS officer who has had friction with Shinde, and joined the BJP in 2013.
Political commentator Hemand Desai told ThePrint ahead of the Lok Sabha election last year too that the Congress in Maharashtra had found itself at the centre of a controversy when its leader of Opposition in the state Vijay Waddettiwar, quoting a book, said late IPS officer Hemant Karkare was killed by an RSS-linked police officer.
Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He was also the man who had led the investigation into the Malegaon blast case.
'Waddettiwar had to face a lot of flak for his comment. Now, with local body polls resembling a mini assembly election likely to come up, the Congress seems to have decided that let's not get into this sort of a debate at all,' Desai said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: 'Evil attempt' to malign Hindus rejected: RSS, VHP welcome 2008 Malegaon blast verdict