Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij also said that with the rising cases of terror attacks involving Muslims, the Congress wanted terrorism cases against Hindus too for political benefits.(Express File Photo) Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij also said that with the rising cases of terror attacks involving Muslims, the Congress wanted terrorism cases against Hindus too for political benefits.(Express File Photo)

Hitting out at the Congress party for coining the term Hindu terrorism, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said, “A Hindu can never be a terrorist and the term was used by the grand old party for taking political mileage.” In reference to terror attacks in past, Vij said that “those belonging to Pakistan were let off and people from India were arrested and were labelled as Hindu terrorists.”

He added that “there cannot be a terminology as Hindu terrorism because a Hindu can only end terrorism from the world”. He also said that with the rising cases of terror attacks involving Muslims, the Congress wanted terrorism cases against Hindus too for political benefits.

#WATCH: A Hindu cannot be a terrorist, no term like ‘Hindu terrorism’ says Haryana Minister Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/Ff8ULbD3P3 — ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

In the meantime, reacting to the Haryana minister’s remark, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “He said it right. Sanghis are terrorists, Hindus can never be terrorists (Unhone sahi farmaaya hai, Sanghi aatankwaad hota hai…Hindu aatankwaad kabhi nahin hota).”

The term Hindu terrorism is used to describe acts of violence motivated by members of Hindu organisations close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Abhinav Bharat. It was first used by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram after some members of the Hindu community were arrested in Mumbai for their involvement in the Malegaon blast in 2008. Malegaon blasts were second major terror attack involving Hindu members after the 2006 Samjhauta blasts which were allegedly carried out by Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu fundamentalist group.

Senior Congress leaders including Digvijaya Singh has off late spoken at great length about the threat to the secular fabric of the nation from Hindu terrorism.

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