'Extradition Of Tahawwur Rana No Diplomatic Success, Ploy By BJP To Divert Public Attention,' Says Kanhaiya Kumar

Patna: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday asserted that the extradition of Tahawwur Rana - key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks - from the US is a ploy by the BJP to "divert" attention of the public from the "failure" of the central government to fulfill its promises.

Kumar also rejected the claim by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the extradition of Rana was a major "diplomatic success" for the Narendra Modi-led government.

Rana, 64, is a close associate of David Coleman Headley, also known as Daood Gilani and one of the main conspirators in the 2008 attacks.

"Since the BJP has no achievement worth the name, it tries to divert public issues under one pretext or the other. The Waqf Bill was just another such example. The government claimed it was bringing the legislation for the benefit of poor Muslims. Who will believe this, coming from a dispensation that does not let members of the community to offer' namaz' on their own rooftops?" he said.

"We all remember their rhetoric after abrogation of Article 370. Every BJP leader was saying that now people of Bihar and other parts of the country will be able to purchase land in Kashmir. Show me one person who has been able to buy property there since then," the former JNU students' union president said.

Kumar had first shot into limelight in 2016 when he was slapped with a sedition case for participating in a demonstration inside the JNU campus, where slogans in support of a Kashmiri separatist movement were allegedly raised.

The 38-year-old former Left leader has been touring Bihar as part of a state-wide 'palayan roko, naukri do padayatra' aimed at mobilising public opinion on joblessness and migration.

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