From ‘bhagwa’ to Bhagwat: day after swinging to Pragya Thakur’s defence, BJP throws weight behind RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

“It was the Gandhi family’s intent to attack Sanatan and the Hindu community, which has fallen flat on its face after yesterday’s verdict,” Patra said.

On Thursday, the BJP demanded a public apology from the Congress leadership, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, for “conspiring” to impose the narrative of “Hindu terror” on the country. Its demand came after a special court designated under the NIA Act acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.

Among those acquitted were former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhardwivedi.

‘Vindictive attitude’

The senior BJP leader said ‘two new political developments” have taken place since Thursday “which have shed new light”.

“ATS, which investigated the incident, one of its officials, Mehboob Mujawwar, has today made a shocking revelation,” Patra said, accusing the Congress of spreading “the narrative around saffron terror in the country” at the behest of “the Gandhi family”.

“After the 2008 Malegaon blast, he (Mujawwar) was a crucial part of the investigation team. This morning, he revealed that top officials both in the agency and the government had exerted tremendous pressure on him and the ATS to arrest Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagat to advance this ‘saffron terror narrative’,” he alleged.

Patra alleged Mujawwar “was directed…to arrest Mohan Bhagwat ji at any cost” despite his name not being part of the chargesheet or any relation whatsoever to its investigation.

“Mehboob Mujawwar cited the Constitution and refused to do so because it was neither constitutional nor legal, and he would not do anything that would hurt the Constitution of India, refusing to carry out this order…in reaction, some damning charges were pressed upon this officer…stalling his promotion. He later went to court and was acquitted…Just look at the vindictive attitude of the then-Congress government,” he added.

How to “forcefully disrespect, arrest and seek revenge from” the BJP, believers of Hinduism, and the top officials of the Sangh, Patra said, it was with this “vindictive attitude” that the then-Congress government was working “at the directions of the Gandhi family.”

‘Catchphrases of appeasement’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, Patra said, during his statement related to Operation Sindoor, mentioned the statement of “a big leader” amid the intelligence establishment in the US that for India, saffron terror was a bigger problem than the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

“You all know who this big leader, who told the American ambassador this, is. It was clearly the agenda of the Gandhi family for the sake of vote bank politics to insult Sanatan at any cost,” he said.

Taking on Prithviraj Chavan, he said statements such as “terrorism has no religion” were the “catchphrases of appeasement” which were “utilised by Congress leaders following each terror attack to keep their vote bank intact”.

“On one hand you say that terror has no religion but in the same breath…Prithviraj Chavan says ‘Hindu and Sanatan terrorists’… but you simply must repeat ‘Hindu terrorist’ and ‘Sanatan terrorist’,” he said.

“(Former Union home minister) Sushil Kumar Shinde, during a party meeting, had said ‘saffron terrorism’. When asked whether he believed he had done the right thing or not by saying so last year, he smiled and said, ‘I did not do it on my own; I feel I did wrong, but whatever the high command said, what my party said, I did’…there is only one high command in the Congress,” he alleged.

Patra also cited the 2007 Samjhauta Express train blasts, in which the accused were released within 14 days, and the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts the same year, in which alleged Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) members who were allegedly behind it were also let go.

He added that senior Congress leaders were “giving Pakistan a clean chit” in the 26/11 Mumbai attack as well, as they “released books on saffron terror” and “turning terrorists loose”.

“This is natural…for a party which views Zakir Naik as an ‘apostle of peace’ and from whose NGO…the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation accepts donations, to expect that they will not say ‘Hindu, Saffron, Sanatani terrorist’ is a bit too much,” he said.

‘Those who have been released in the case include a person from the Army, a sadhvi. …Sena, Sant, Sanatan and Samvidhan — for 17 years, the Congress attacked these four…as per a calculated conspiracy. But Satyamev Jayate (truth always prevails)… Their objective is to end Sanatan…but Sanatan is invincible and cannot be defeated,” he added.