Cong leaders play politics over hanging

A day after Congress approved the hanging of Mumbai blast convict Yakub Menon, two of its senior leaders — Digvijay Singh and Shashi Tharoor — stoked a controversy by questioning the judicial process applied on the death row convict. While Congress distanced itself from the comments by Singh and Tharoor, BJP hit out at the leaders saying their comments were an ‘insult’ to the people wanting to get rid of terrorism, and that any politics over it is regrettable. “Those may be their personal views. Party’s stand has already been communicated and we had welcomed the refusal of Yakub’s mercy plea by Supreme Court,” party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said. 

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, said that with different views coming from Congress leaders on hanging of Yakub, party president Sonia Gandhi should herself now clarify her party’s stand on the issue. Jaitley said ‘irresponsible’ statements by Congress leaders with regard to Mumbai blast accused were a cause of concern. “We expect Sonia Gandhi to clarify before the nation,” he said.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked Singh, saying Digvijay’s comments ‘seek to question the judicial process,’ and spoke of his attempts at ‘alignment’ between judicial process and politics. Prasad said he chose to ignore Tharoor’s tweets which the Congress MP dubbed as ‘State-sponsored killing,’ and added that he was ‘more troubled’ by Singh’s comments as he was a Congress general secretary, Chief Minister for 10 years and an “adviser” to party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Taking a dig at Tharoor, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said he had been handling many cases and should be familiar with legal process.

“Whether it is Mani Shankar Aiyar or Digvijay Singh and we have comments from Tharoor today, they (Congress) have always been seen to be speaking for terrorists. It is clear from their statements today that they are insulting the peace-loving people who want to get rid of terrorism,” BJP spokesperson Shashikant Sharma said. 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he was “saddened” by the news that “our Government has hanged a human being. State-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too.” In his tweets, Tharoor raised questions over the efficacy of death penalty in acting as a deterrent. “There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent: to the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution: unworthy of a Govt.”

“Yakub Memon hanged. Exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by Govt and Judiciary in punishing an accused of Terror. I hope similar commitment of Govt and Judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror irrespective of their caste creed and religion,” Digvijay said.