BJP, Oppn clash over Wadhwa panel report

NEW DELHI, AUG 6: The Left parties have dismissed as whitewash' and a cover-up', the report submitted by the Wadhwa Commission of inqui...

NEW DELHI, AUG 6: The Left parties have dismissed as whitewash8217; and a cover-up8217;, the report submitted by the Wadhwa Commission of inquiry into the killing of an Australian missionary and his two young sons in Orissa early this year.

Both the CPIM and the CPI today attacked the findings of the Commission which they said was aimed at bailing out the saffron outfits which were suspected of carrying out the attack.

Accusing the government of trying to quot;whitewashquot; the enormity of the crime in the killing of the missionary, Graham Staines and his sons, the CPIM said it was inexplicable how the Wadhwa Commission had let Hindu outfits off the hook despite the main culprit8217;s association with such organisations in the area.

quot;The BJP-led government8217;s efforts to whitewash the enormity of the crime and the culpability of the RSS outfits will not deceive anyone. Seven months after the murders, Dara Singh is still at large and the politics of hate against religious minorities gets official protectionquot;, the CPI-MPolitburo said.

The CPI in a separate statement, said the report was politically tutored and intended to bail out the Bajrang Dal and other saffron outfits.

The CPIM said that the evidence presented by the Wadhwa Commission of Dara Singh8217;s nefarious activities, including criminal attacks on Muslim cattle traders quot;revealed that this campaign was initiated by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.quot;

When the government had appointed the judicial commission, the CPIM had objected, branding the move as a quot;blatant attempt to cover up the role of the various outfits of the RSS-headed saffron brigade.quot;

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The National Human Rights Commission and the National Minorities Commission, both of which were statutory bodies, had sent separate inquiry teams to Orissa. For the government to then appoint the Wadhwa Commission to investigate the circumstances under which Graham Staines and his sons were killed was questionable, the party felt.

According to D Raja, CPI National Secretary, it was very strangethat the whole purpose of the Commission was to hand over a certificate that Dara Singh did not belong to the Bajrang Dal or any other saffron-linked organisation.

He alleged the report was quot;a cover up and whitewash jobquot; for the BJP government on the eve of elections.