Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Member of Parliament Balbir Punj said here today that by making an irresponsible statement on terrorism, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has given Pakistan a weapon to attack India.
"There is no doubt that Shinde is batting for Pakistan, going by his irresponsible statement at the Congress conclave at Jaipur about the Rasbhtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP running so called terrorist training camps," he told reporters, after staging a protest on the issue.
Demanding Shinde's removal, Punj said that the above statement was made in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the party vice president Rahul Gandhi, but their continued silence on the issue smacks of their approval to such an irresponsible statement from none other than the country's home minister.
He also demanded that the government must try Shinde for treason under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
"By making such an irresponsible statement, Shinde has given a perfect handle to roil this country with a charge of officially sponsoring and promoting terror," Punj said.
Asked about the National Investigative Agency action against those involved in Malegaon and Samjhauta Express train blasts, he said, "It was politically motivated. When a person such as Shinde is heading the NIA as home minister, you cannot expect any efficient probe from it".
He also questioned Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's role in such a matter and alleged that while he has the time to sympathise with people in Azamgarh, he has no time to visit Dadhiya village in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh to share the grief of the family members of martyred soldier Sudhakar Singh, who was brutally killed on the LoC.
