BJP to org nationwide agitation if Afzal let off

New Delhi, Oct 10: The Bharatiya Janata Party today threatened to launch a nationwide agitation if the government were to let off Mohammad Afzal convicted by the Supreme Court for his role in attack on Parliament in December 2001 and demanded that he be hanged to death on October 20 as per the judicial orders.

Talking to newspersons, senior BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu said the party was receiving calls from various parts of the country on the possibility of the Congress led UPA Government not complving with the orders of the Supreme Court which had viewed his crime as 'rarest of rare crime deserving exemplary punishment'.

However the Congress and other political parties were lobbying for granting clemency for this convict who had confessed openly about his role in the attack that could have wiped out the entire spectrum of elected representatives of the country, Mr Naidu said.

Even now he is not showing any remorse or seeking mercy but his family members and the so called secular forces were attempting to seek clemency, he added.

The BJP, he said, wanted this convict to be dealt according to the orders of the Supreme Court and grant him the exemplary punishment for the crime. ''If this does not happen the party would organise nationwide agitation to expose the hollowness of the Congress and its allied parties who appear to have no qualms in voicing their support for a self confessed extermist.

"They want to be soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists", he said pointing out to the letter written by Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressing her concern about government servants allowed to participate in a nationalist organisation like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In a related incident, BJP Yuva Morcha workers and Delhi BJP activists held demonstration outside the BJP headquarters protesting against the Congress and UPA parties voicing their support for clemency.

Addressing the rally, Delhi BJP Chief Harsh Vardhan criticised all those seeking pardon for Afzal saying they were finding fault with Supreme Court for holding a self confessed extremist who provided infrastructure to the terrorists attacking the Parliament.

"They applaud absolving of Syed Ali Geelani for lack of evidence while blame the Supreme Court for convicting the non-repentant Afzal," he said. The voters of this country were intelligent enough to see through the vote bank game of the parties.

UNI

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