WikiLeaks release: BJP activists burn Rahul Gandhi’s effigy in Kanpur

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists agitated over Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s statement on radical Hindu groups, which was released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, burnt his effigy in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur city on Friday.

The activists shouting slogans against Gandhi staged a demonstration in city.

BJP leader Krishna Dikshit said Rahul Gandhi should refer to history and get his facts correct that a Hindu can never be a militant.

“We have burnt the effigy of Rahul Gandhi. In order to woo the voters, Rahul Gandhi wants to misguide the Muslims and he told the American ambassador that that ‘the growth of radicalised Hindu groups’ may be a ‘bigger threat’ to India than Islamic militant groups. He should study history; a Hindu can never be a militant. And the day Hindus become militants, he has no idea what will happen in the country,” Dikshit told reporters.

Further expressing their displeasure, the activists said they would not permit Gandhi to enter Kanpur city in the near future.

The Congress earlier today issued a statement saying it suspected a conspiracy behind the release of the WikiLeaks cable, which says Rahul Gandhi had told United States Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, that the growth of ‘radicalised Hindu groups’ is a bigger threat to the nation than the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

With the BJP criticizing Gandhi for his comments on the issue, the Congress issued a statement saying: “Rahul Gandhi’s view is that terrorism and communalism of all types is a threat to India. We need to remain vigilant against acts of terrorism of all kinds, no matter who commits them.”

According to a secret US diplomatic cable from New Delhi released by WikiLeaks, at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at his residence in July 2009, Rahul Gandhi was asked by the US ambassador about LeT’s activities in the region and immediate threat to India, to which he said there was evidence of some support for the group among certain elements in India’s indigenous Muslim community, the cable notes.

“However, Gandhi warned, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community,” the cable says. (ANI)