Guwahati, Jul 31 (PTI) The verdict of the Malegaon blast, acquitting all seven accused, once again proves that there is no term ‘Hindu terror’, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
He also asserted that “no Hindu can be a terrorist”.
”Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Parliament on Wednesday that no Hindu by philosophy can be a terrorist and the verdict of the court has also discarded the concept of Hindu terror,” Sarma said at a press conference here.
He also alleged that the term ‘Hindu terror’ was coined by the then Congress government to appease a particular community.
”Hindu philosophy, culture, civilisation or any religious text has never encouraged anyone to become terrorists. Hindu and terror are two diametrically opposite concepts, and they do not go together,” Sarma said.
All the accused in the case have been acquitted, and ”our long-standing objection to the term ‘Hindu terror’ has been once again endorsed”, Sarma said.
Nearly 17 years after the Malegaon blast in Maharashtra, a special court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, noting there was “no reliable and cogent evidence” against them.
Terrorism has no religion, but conviction cannot be based on moral grounds, special judge A.K.Lahoti said, while acquitting all seven accused in the case.
Six people were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive went off on the night of September 29, 2008, during the holy month of Ramzan and the eve of Navratri, in Malegaon. PTI DG DG BDC
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