BJP, Congress spar on David Headley’s claim on Ishrat

The war of words following David Headley’s revelations on Ishrat Jahan escalated on Friday, with the BJP accusing the Congress of “whitewashing” facts when it was in power due to its “congenital dislike” of Narendra Modi, and the Opposition party asking the BJP since when it had started believing terrorists.

Seeking an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, then home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and other party leaders lined up to “weave a fictional tale” to target then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, seen as a “political threat”, the BJP also virtually defended the police personnel arrested for killing Ishrat, saying the then UPA government made sure they were put behind bars.

Rejecting outright the BJP’s demand, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said that the implicit faith in the statements of the Pakistani-American terrorist was “yet another example of opportunism of the BJP”.

Mr Sibal said it was “very surprising” as also a “matter of some concern” that suddenly the BJP and its leaders have got implicit faith in terrorists and what they say.

“All over the world, Headley is a known terrorist, not to be believed. Suddenly, the BJP finds truth in what he says,” Mr Sibal said, remarking that it would now also believe in what terrorists Masood Azhar and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi are saying.

“Since when has the BJP started believing terrorists ”

Hitting out at the Congress leadership, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “A battery of Congress leaders were lined up who went on giving statements that there are evidences (against BJP leaders), there are conversations happening, there are people who said the man with white beard and black beard (sic). It was done because the Congress has a congenital dislike for Mr Modi... He, much to their dislike, was the state’s chief minister... who much to their dislike ran the state so successfully that they foresaw a potential political threat to themselves and so they targeted him... They wove theories like white beard, black beard.”

She said: “To what extent could the dislike of Congress for individuals guide its policy and governance and expose national security. It went to court with a fictional tale. It almost hounded intelligence and police officials.”