New Delhi: The Congress on Friday sought to distance itself from Home Minister P Chidambram's "saffron terror" remarks, saying that terror has no colour.
Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi rebuffed Chidambaram after the BJP and Shiv Sena demanded a withdrawal of Chidambaram's comments and stalled the Rajya Sabha over the issue.
"The issue was of terror. Terror has no colour. Terror is black. Saffron was part of freedom struggle, mythology, ancient history. It cannot be the prerogative of any political party," Dwivedi said.
Chidambaram had on Wednesday said, "The last 21 months have been remarkably free of any terrorist attack. There is a recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism responsible for many bomb blasts in the past."
The BJP and Shiv Sena accused the government of giving a religious angle to terrorism for political reasons. The BJP even accused Chidambaram of insulting India's national flag – the Tricolour - which too has saffron as one of its colours. The BJP also demanded an apology from the Home Minister.
"It is good to know that Congress realised that the people of this nation were against it... against such kind of words. Now we ask the Home Minister to apologise to the nation and take his words back," BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
Earlier, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath lashed out at Chidambaram and called him mentally unstable.
"On the internal security issue, Chidambaram has flopped badly. He is just trying to divert attention. His statement is not only anti-Hindu, but against the nation.
Only someone with a psychological problem can think like this. His mental condition should be checked," Adityanath said.
Reacting to Home Minister's cautioning of police chiefs on the phenomenon of 'saffron terror', BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday warned Chidambaram against making such statements.
"Such remarks could have dangerous repercussions," Joshi said.
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