Sangh praises UPA's policy on terror

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came in for praise from an unexpected quarter--the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh which said the ruling alliance has "woken up" to the threat of terror.

"The Mumbai terror attack seems to have hit the UPA government like a thunderbolt and enlightened its vision. The government that used to rubbish any nationalist suggestion to ensure national security by dealing firmly with the terrorists and their domestic harbingers has suddenly woken up and started speaking a new language," said an editorial in RSS mouthpiece Organiser. But at the same time the sangh was apprehensive on the longevity of the "change in Congress policy."

"Only time will tell if it is an election stunt or a genuine policy change," it adds. Quoting an interview by Home Minister P Chidamabarm to a magazine, the editorial says "it is as if the UPA has invented and became aware only now of the gravity of the menace. "If it (the change) is serious it (Congress) should make an open commitment that even if it is not voted back to power, it will support any move by any political party that comes to power after the poll to undertake the mission. Such a commitment will give some credibility to its latest posture," it added.

The editorial ends by saying that "a political consensus on issue of nationality is, however, a welcome shift."