Guru's hanging: What Amitabh, Nitish, Ramdev are saying

Let's take a look at reactions across the political spectrum to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru

In a move that is bound to embarrass the Congress, senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar stated that the hanging of Guru was a "sad" event.

His party has hastily distanced itself from the comment, saying it is Aiyar's personal view.

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Asserting that fast track courts should be set up to deal expeditiously with terror cases, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday said the government took the decision to hang Guru according to the law of the land.

Stating that the Congress has never been soft on terror and never compromised on security, Singh said anyone involved in terror and convicted by the Supreme Court deserves no mercy.

"The decision to hang Afzal Guru has been taken as per the law of the land," he added.

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday declared that the state government has taken every possible precaution in all districts of the state to deal with the fallout of the hanging of Guru.

Abdullah confirmed that he had been informed on Friday evening about Guru's execution.

"The hanging took place after every kind of legal formality was completed," said Abdullah.

He added that the army had not yet been called in to manage the tense situation in the valley.

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"The government took a long time to take a decision in the case but finally obliged, keeping in the mind the sentiments of the people," said Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut.

"The government showed courage in hanging Guru," he said but rued the delay in the process.

"Terrorists like Guru were kept alive for over a decade on public expense, this is a greater crime," he said.

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Better late than never. This was Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's reaction to Afzal Guru's hanging on Twitter.

"Der aaye, durust aaye," he tweeted

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Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the government's decision to hang Guru was judicious and in the interests of justice .

"In the case of Afzal Guru, there was a dastardly attack which took place in the Indian Parliament. It led to an investigation process, which culminated in a prosecution process, which went through three layers of judicial scrutiny at the trial court, at the high court and at the Supreme Court level. Certain people, who were accused in this particular outrage, were found to be innocent, they were acquitted by the courts. Others were found to be guilty, they were convicted," Tewari said.

"Then the clemency process under the Indian Constitution ensued and eventually it culminated in the government taking a decision which it thought was judicious and which furthers the interests of justice and the cause of national security," he added.

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The law of the land has taken its course in the 2001 Parliament attack case, CPI-M said on Saturday, reacting to the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru.

"I think the law of the land with all its provisions has finally been completed as far as the Afzal Guru case and the attack on the Indian Parliament is concerned," CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

He also said there are two more cases in which law has to take its course -- assassination cases of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has welcomed the hanging of Afzal Guru and said the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist's execution had to happen one day .
 
"In the end, justice has prevailed and Afzal Guru has been hanged," Kumar told reporters.
 
Guru's crime was established long ago but the matter remained pending for years, he said, adding that there is a perception among the countrymen that the terrorist should have been executed much earlier.

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Saluting Indian law , superstar Amitabh Bachchan has said the law should be followed and respected by one and all.

"We all should follow the law. Whatever India has done, has been done within the ambit of the law," Bachchan told reporters.

"Whoever is guilty, even if it is me, we all should abide by the law of the country," he said.

"The country has fully investigated this (case). We salute the law of the land," Bachchan said.

Welcoming the execution of Afzal Guru, Baba Ramdev on Saturday urged the government to take swift decisions on all mercy petitions involving terrorists and rapists.

"Though the government has taken the decision very late, but I welcome his hanging and demand that the government take a final call regarding all the mercy petitions of the terrorists and rapists. Even I think that except any extraordinary case, the government should scrap the provision of mercy petitions," he said.

Ramdev said that a decision to hang Afzal Guru should have been taken much earlier and added that this move would have taught a tough lesson to anti-national forces.

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Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Saturday hailed the Congree-led UPA government for sending Afzal Guru to the gallows.

In a statement, Mayawati said, "I support the decision of the central government to give its nod for the hanging of Afzal Guru who was the key accused in the attack on Indian Parliament a few years ago."

She added, "I would like to advise the central government to rise above considerations of caste, creed or religion in matters that concern the national security." 

"I hope that in the future, the Centre will be bold enough to take prompt action against those involved in terrorist activities and not get guided by extraneous considerations of caste or religion before taking action against them," said Mayawati.

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