Cong, BJP spar over ex-RAW chief's revelations

The Congress and the BJP were engaged in a bitter war of words on Friday over some sensational claims made by former RAW chief AS Dulat on Gujarat riots and hijacking of IC-814 from Kathmandu.  A Special Advisor on Kashmir in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO, Dulat, in his book titled — Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years — has commented on several contentious issues, including Gujarat riots, Kandahar hijacking, and Vajpayee’s visit to Srinagar in April 2003 when he famously extended his hand of friendship towards Pakistan.

Talking about his book in an interview to a TV channel, Dulat said when the IC-814 hijacking took place on December 24, the Crisis Management Group (CMG) “goofed up” the entire case by not immobilising the plane when it had landed in AmritsarThe former RAW chief also mentioned that Vajpayee believed that 2002 riots was a mistake. In another disclosure,  Dulat has mentioned that in early 1990s, self-styled Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin had called local Intelligence Bureau chief KM Singh and sought his help in securing a medical seat for his son.

While the Congress questioned BJP’s commitment to fight terrorism and alleged it was wearing a “mask of nationalism”, the BJP accused the Congress of raking up the issue of Gujarat riots for its “political survival” and demanded that the Opposition party apologise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for questioning his “integrity”. 

latching on to the claims made by Dulat, Congress said a “soft” BJP-led Government in 1999 helped lay the “foundation of terrorism” in the entire world by releasing of three dreaded terrorists following hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane.Turning to the IC-814 hijack, the Congress said that Dulat believed that the CMG “failed miserably” and allowed the plane to leave Amritsar which led to the release of three dreaded terrorists.

“Foundation of terrorism not only in India but the entire world (was laid) when three terrorists were let loose by a soft government led by the BJP,” AICC spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said at AICC briefing accusing the BJP of practising “false nationalism” and “fake patriotism”.  The Congress also raked up the post-Godhra riots issue against PM Narendra Modi, latching onto the claims by Dulat to demand that Modi apologise for the communal violence in 2002 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. 

Referring to Dulat’s interview, Kumar said the former RAW chief’s book has brought “certain disturbing facts” in the open including that the Vajpayee Government was in “active communication” with the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and even admitted his son to a medical course.

The ruling party insisted that every court had investigated Modi’s role and found nothing against him and added that the opposition party raises the 2002 riots issue when it can find nothing else to say. Senior BJP leader MJ Akbar said that if thorough investigation was undertaken into the riots under UPA rule, many of its leaders would not be in their homes.

“I think time as well as all that has happened has made that question completely irrelevant. Congress has used every method and every strata of the administration, as well as the courts and every court, including Supreme Court, has done 10 years or more of the most thorough investigation... And found nothing against the present honourable Prime Minister. In fact, Congress should apologise for raising questions about his integrity,” BJP national spokesperson MJ Akbar said.

BJP has outrightly rejected Dulat’s claims about the alleged “goof up” of the IC-814 hijacking case in 1999. It also rebutted claims of the ruling party compromising with terrorists and terrorism.Dulat has also claimed in his book that BJP and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s PDP may be partners in the ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir today, but during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as Prime Minister the saffron party was “distrustful” of Mufti. The author goes on to say that Mufti had attained power with the help of pro-Pakistani separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani.