— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

UP IN ARMS: BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Sahib Singh Verma shouting slogans against the UPA Government in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded that Cabinet Ministers Arjun Singh and A.R. Antulay be "sacked" for what it called "totally irresponsible statements" reportedly made in Thursday's Cabinet meeting that there were cases of Hindu groups "faking" terrorist attacks and then routinely blaming Muslims afterwards.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad expressed the party's sense of outrage at the reported comments by these ministers.

He referred to news reports that Mr. Antulay had talked about a "mysterious" blast in Nanded in Maharashtra this April believed to have been organised by Hindus posing as Muslims.

Mr. Arjun Singh was reported to have quoted a Maharashtra judge to say that the terrorist attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur recently had been faked by the Sangh itself.

Such remarks were designed to promote terrorism and encourage terrorists to commit more daring acts, Mr. Prasad said.

Mulayam criticised

Once again reiterating the BJP stand that the United Progressive Alliance parties and their supporters were competing among themselves for votes of minorities, Mr. Prasad was extremely critical of Utter Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for trying to defend the indefensible Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

The party has already underscored the contradiction in the Centre banning SIMI while U.P. refusing to follow suit.

Another BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar pointed out that even the U.P. police had arrested about half-a-dozen SIMI activists in connection with the attempted attack on the Ayodhya shrine last year.

How could the Chief Minister then say that SIMI was not engaged in unlawful activities?

Mr. Prasad was also critical of Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury for his reported statement that a pro-United States foreign policy and closeness to the U.S.A. would lead to more terrorist attacks in India.

"This was a glaring case of communalising the serious issue of the country's security at a time when we are still trying to grapple with the enormity of the terror that struck Mumbai," he said.

Over the next two days (July 15 and 16) the BJP has planned a series of protest demonstrations in all State capitals to send out the message that it disapproves of the government handling of the problem of terrorism.

Senior party leaders would be going to different State capitals to address meetings.

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