A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of celebrating the release of alleged 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday cited a 2010 media report stating Rahul Gandhi had told the then US ambassador Timothy Roemer that Hindu extremist groups were a greater threat than Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Guardian, citing a WikiLeaks cable, in 2010 had reported that Rahul at a lunch in 2009 warned Roemer that though “there was evidence of some support for (Lashkar-e-Taiba) among certain elements in India’s indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community”. Citing this report, Prasad, the Union Minister for Law and Justice, asked the Congress vice-president to explain just how dangerous and serious was the threat of “Hindu terror” when compared with the LeT. Questioning Rahul’s understanding of the issue of terrorism, Prasad said, “Today ISIS (Islamic State) is a big challenge to all countries, except India.” The BJP leader made these statements a day after the Prime Minister at an election rally in Bhuj said that “recently, a Pakistani court released a terrorist. I cannot understand why Congress people are clapping.” He echoed Modi’s criticism of Rahul for “questioning the veracity” of the surgical strikes. “It was a joke on the bravery of our forces,” Prasad said. 300 companies of central forces for Gujarat polls New Delhi: Over 30,000 personnel of the central armed forces such as the CRPF and BSF along with nearly 60,000 personnel from state police are likely to be deployed for the upcoming Gujarat elections, said officials . Around 300 companies of central armed police forces, each comprising 100 personnel, are being made available to the Election Commission for deployment in election duties.—ENS
