Samajwadi Party has links with 2008 Ahmedabad Serial Blast incident, alleges Anurag Thakur

New Delhi [India], February 19 (ANI): Ahead of the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur, in a press conference on Saturday, claimed that the Samajwadi Party (SP) has links with the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blast case and also gives protection to terrorists.
Thakur has asked the Samajwadi Party chief to respond to his allegations.
Anurag Thakur said, "When it comes to terrorism, BJP has a zero-tolerance policy on it while Samajwadi Party gives full protection to terrorists."
"I would like to tell you that Ahmedabad's serial blast is linked to the Samajwadi Party and the 49 people who have been convicted, one of the masterminds is Mohammed Saif, the son of Shahbaad Ahmed who is a Samajwadi Party leader. Who is this Samajwadi Party leader? Why is Akhilesh Ji quiet on this?" Thakur said.
The BJP leader further accused the Samajwadi Party chief of doing appeasement politics and said, "Will Samajwadi Party break its silence on the people who have made Azamgarh a place for terrorists? They do not trust the police or ATS, but they give full support in protecting the terrorists. I would say Aatankiyon se karein Pyaar, Jinnah ke kaseede gaaye hazaar, UP police pe karein waar, Samajwadi hai Tushtikaran ki yaar."
"Because of the appeasement politics, these goons and terrorists have gotten stronger in the Samajwadi Party government. In the last 5 years, CM Yogi Adityanath worked to eliminate goons and mafias in UP", he further said.
Accusing Akhilesh Yadav of giving protection to the terrorists, Thakur said, "I would like to say, 'Akhilesh ne thana hai, Aatankiyon ko bachana hai' (Akhilesh is determined to save the terrorists). In 2012, in Samajwadi Party's manifesto before the UP election, it was written that they will roll back the terrorism charges levelled against the Muslim youths. At that time, Samajwadi Party was the first national political party that promised in a manifesto that terror charges would be withdrawn from Muslim youths and the party will also take action against such police officials."
"And when they came to power in 2013, the charges were dropped. They went to the court. Akhilesh's government did not investigate. Court took cognizance of it saying that today you're withdrawing cases against them, tomorrow will you give them Padma Bhushan?", the BJP leader stated.
Anurag Thakur asked the Samajwadi Party Chief to break his silence on the matter. He said, "I would like to ask Akhilesh Ji as to why he is silent regarding the connection of his leader in the 2008 Ahmedabad Serial Blast case."
"People have lost their lives and many were injured in the Ahmedabad serial blast incident. The connection of the incident is directly related to Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party. That is in the past few days even after the court's judgement, the leaders of the Samajwadi Party are silent", Thakur told.
According to the BJP leader, in the 2008 serial blast, 56 people had lost their lives, and hundreds were injured. "We welcome the judgement of the judiciary. In this, 49 people were convicted in the blast case. 38 terrorists have been given the death sentence, 11 terrorists have been given a life sentence. This all has happened when Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi was there. After the blast took place, all the agencies asked Narendra Modi not to visit the place where the incident took place. But, he went to the spot, to the police commissioner's office, hospital to see the injured", Anurag Thakur said.
"I would like to say that be it SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) or the Indian Mujahideen, PM Narendra Modi has worked to end terrorism, he added. (ANI)