Mumbai: The right-wing Hindu organisations have welcomed the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast verdict calling it a victory of truth and expose of the Hindu Terrorism conspiracy. The Hindu organisations claimed that the justice to the victims will be served only when the conspirators are punished.
After 17 years, the special court on Thursday acquitted all the accused, including ex-BJP MP Pragya Thakur and Lt. Col Prasad Purohit, of all the charges for want of evidence in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. On September 29, 2008, a bomb planted on a motorcycle went off in Malegaon, killing six persons and injuring 101.
The verdict was hailed by Hindu organisations claiming that it has brought the truth out after 17 years and has cleared the blot of “Hindu terrorism” or “saffron terrorism” from all the accused. The Hindu organisations also accused Indian National Congress of fuelling conspiracies of calling the Malegaon blast case as a Hindu terror model.
Welcoming the verdict, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanded that Rahul Gandhi and Soniya Gandhi should apologise to the Hindu community and the entire country for insulting the nation in front of the world. It claimed that the real perpetrators of the bomb blast along with those who tried to save them should face prosecution.
Dr. Surendra Jain, joint general secretary of VHP, said, “Congress and its aides hatched a conspiracy by fabricating stories about saffron terror for the last two decades to insult the Hindu community. Today, the conspiracy has been shattered. To save a few jihadis, they insulted the entire Hindu community and jailed the monks. This will never be accepted by the community and they received their punishment for the unforgivable act.”
Another right-wing Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha alleged that the investigation was heavily biased and politically motivated, and accused Param Bir Singh of fabricating evidence under political pressure to falsely implicate innocent individuals. It also accused Congress leaders including Digvijay Singh, P. Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde propagated the term saffron terror to malign the image of Hindus.
Calling it a victory of righteousness and a historic moment for the Hindu society, Abhay Vartak, national spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha, said, “The Congress committed the grave sin of branding Hindus as terrorists, but the goddess of justice has ultimately upheld the dignity of Hindus. This verdict not only ends years of grave injustice, but also exposes the falsity of the fabricated narrative of Hindu terrorism.” He also alleged that Congress had similarly conspired in 2009 to falsely implicate Sanatan Sanstha seekers in the Margao bomb blast case, all of whom were acquitted in 2013.
On the same lines, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) alleged that patriotic Hindus were targeted through a calculated effort to defame the entire Hindu society. The right-wing organisation alleged that they were subjected to brutal physical and mental torture only because they were Hindus and demanded that action should be taken against those who conspired to label Hindus as terrorists.
Ramesh Shinde, spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, said, “With this judgment, the malicious and politically motivated narrative of Hindu terror or Saffron terror propagated by the Congress has been thoroughly exposed. However, the case must not be closed here and those involved in falsely branding Hindus as terrorists, framing patriotic individuals in fabricated cases, and abusing their power under the guise of investigation must be identified and brought to justice. Only then will real justice be served.”
