Samjhauta blast verdict: BJP slams Congress

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley slammed the Congress following the Samjhauta blast verdict, saying that theory of "Hindu terror" was created by the Congress for political motives and as a result the real culprits were left alone.

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday used the Samjhauta train blast case verdict to target the Congress-led UPA government, saying the "Hindu terror" theory was established to further its political gains but the real culprits got away.

Addressing a press conference here, Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the UPA government and the Congress will have to be held accountable for the case falling flat in court.

"To establish their theory of Hindu terror, a wrong set of people were framed; innocent people lost their lives (in the blast) and the real culprits were not caught," he said.

Jaitley said in a bid to establish their theory, the Congress and the then UPA regime "defamed" the entire Hindu community for which people will "never forgive them."

All the four accused, Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary were acquitted by the special NIA court in Panchkula earlier this month.

The blast in Samjhauta Express took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari, the last railway station on the Indian side.