On the eve of budget session, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde retracted his statements that the BJP and RSS are training camps breeding saffron terror. This comes in the wake of the BJP – India’s main opposition party - threatening to boycott the minister and disrupt the Parliament proceedings.
BJP had consistently kept up the pressure and demanded an apology from Shinde. Earlier in the week, BJP chief Rajnath Singh had led top party leaders and workers in a protest march from Jantar Mantar in Delhi towards Shinde’s residence and courted arrest while continuing a call for an apology.Shinde later clarified that he meant “saffron terrorism” not “Hindu terrorism,” however the BJP refused to budge from its call for an apology.
In a one page statement he said that he regretted that his comments at a Congress conclave in Jaipur last month had “created controversy” and “misunderstanding”. Shinde said he had “no intention of linking terrorism with any religion. There is no basis for suggesting that terror could be linked with the organisations mentioned in my brief speech at Jaipur.”
With the BJP’s threat looming large, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appealed to the opposition to let the parliament function and said he is hopeful that the session will be a fruitful one. “Parliament is a forum for discussion, for dialogue, and all parties have an obligation to ensure that Parliament runs smoothly. And I am hopeful and I am confident that this session is going to be a fruitful session,” he said.
Prior to this, the original draft of Shinde’s statement was rejected by the BJP as it stopped short of expressing regret at calling the BJP and the RSS Hindu terror camps. He had shared the draft with senior party member Sushma Swaraj and it contained a part retraction which clarified Shinde’s position on the issue. His position being similar to Congress media in-charge Janardan Dwivedi’s who said that terrorism has no religious color.
The apology paved the way for a smooth Parliament session. However, opposition refocused attention on raising several other issues including corruption and recently surfaced scams. A session in a pre-election year is not expected to be without its fair share of ups and downs.