Malegaon Blast Case: P Chidambaram, Sushil Shinde, RK Singh—Who Introduced the Term ‘Saffron Terror’?

Malegaon Blast Case: P Chidambaram, Sushil Shinde, RK Singh—Who Introduced the Term ‘Saffron Terror’?

The term received a formal closure on Thursday as an NIA court in Mumbai acquitted all those accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

From P Chidambaram to Sushil Kumar Shinde and ex-home secretary RK Singh—the term “saffron terrorism”, introduced by these senior leaders, was laid to rest on Thursday after the NIA court’s ruling acquitting all the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

Every time the term was mentioned, it created political trouble for the Congress, and eventually on Thursday, party members refrained from making any public statements. Neither Chidambaram, Shinde, nor Singh commented on the verdict. The NIA, which had filed a supplementary charge sheet in the case in 2016 (during the UPA government), also did not immediately state whether it would challenge the court’s order.

How It Originated

P Chidambaram, who served as Home Minister from 2008 to 2012, is believed to have introduced the phrase “saffron terror”. On August 25, 2010, while addressing the annual DGP/IGPs conference in New Delhi, Chidambaram said that a “recently revealed trend of ‘saffron terrorism’ was found to be involved in multiple past bomb blasts”. He was referring to incidents like the 2008 Malegaon blasts, the Samjhauta Express blasts, and the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif blasts of 2007.

The BJP strongly objected to this, with senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad reminding the Congress that saffron is one of the colours in the national flag. Following this, the Congress tried to backtrack, stating that terrorism had no colour except “black” and that saffron is part of India’s cultural heritage.

However, Chidambaram’s successor, Sushil Kumar Shinde, went even further in January 2013, stating that “saffron terrorism” not only existed but was also linked to training camps run by the RSS and BJP. Shinde made this statement during the Congress Chintan Shivir in Jaipur, which immediately sparked controversy. He also referenced the Samjhauta and Malegaon blasts.

The Congress once again found itself in a difficult position, and within a few days, Shinde had to issue a clarification. “I did not mean to associate any religion with terrorism. There is no justification for linking terror with the organisations I briefly mentioned in Jaipur. I am issuing this clarification and apologise to anyone who was hurt by my remarks,” Shinde said in a statement shortly thereafter.

At the time, then Home Secretary R K Singh supported Shinde’s claims, saying that there was evidence of involvement of some individuals connected to the RSS in acts of terror. Later, Singh joined the BJP after his retirement and went on to become a minister. He then shifted his stance, blaming Shinde for using the term “saffron terror” and denying that he ever used it himself.

BJP Terms It a Congress Plot

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad stated on Thursday that the court’s verdict had shattered what he called a Congress-led plot to frame individuals under the label of “saffron terror”. He further alleged that an army officer, who had served in Kashmir fighting terrorists, was falsely implicated in the Malegaon case by planting RDX at his residence.

“This was a carefully orchestrated conspiracy by the Congress, purely for vote-bank politics,” Ravi Shankar Prasad remarked.

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