BJP to step up stir if Afzal is not hanged: Naidu

Hyderabad, Oct 18: Senior BJP leader Venkiah Naidu today warned the ruling UPA that the party would intensify its stir if Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru was not hanged on October 20.

If the UPA government does not recommend to the President to hang Afzal on the stipulated date, the BJP would step up its agitation from October 20 by 'hanging' an effigy of Afzal in all the state capitals that day, the former BJP National President told a press conference here.

''The whole nation is shocked over the UPA government encouraging a debate on whether to implement the apex court verdict or not'', he alleged, referring to the Supreme Court's observation that the present case, which had no parallel in the history of Indian Republic, presented in crystal clear terms a spectacle of rarest of rare cases.

Quoting the judgement, he said ''the very idea of attacking and overpowering sovereign a democratic institution by using powerful arms and explosives, and endangering the safety of a multitude of people's representatives, Constitutional functionaries and officials of the government of India and engaging in a combat with security forces was an act of terrorism of gravest severity.'' Alleging that those seeking clemency for Afzal were ''anti nationals'', he said it was unbecoming of leaders in Jammu and Kashmir claiming that if Afzal was hanged, the life of the judge concerned would be at risk. The same threat could be posed by mafias to the judges, he alleged.

UNI

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