A day after a Hyderabad court acquitted five accused, all allegedly linked to Hindu groups, in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Hansraj Ahir on Tuesday slammed Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for coining the term "saffron terror" post the blast.
"Connecting terror with a religion's name doesn't suit a minister. We don't accept the term of 'Bhagwa aatankwad'. Very small man was sitting at a very high position (the then Home Minister)," Ahir told ANI.
Former UPA ministers P. Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde, who had reportedly been home ministers one after the other during 2008-2014 had used the terms such as 'Saffron terror' and 'Hindu terrorism' to describe the blast incidents in Ajmer, Malegaon, Hyderabad and Samjhauta Express.
Out of a total of 10 accused named in the case, only five faced trial, as one died while others are still absconding.
The blast, which took place on May 18, 2007, at the Hyderabad mosque during Friday prayers, had killed eight people and left 58 injured.
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