BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of having defamed the country in the name of 'saffron terror' and 'Hindu terror' and demanded an apology from party chief Rahul Gandhi, following the acquittal of five right-wing activists in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case.
"The great Hindu culture taught the world about culture, peace and civilisation for lakhs of years. The Congress party has committed a sin by linking it to saffron terror," he said at a meeting of "Shakti Kendras" of the party here.
Shah said Congress had defamed the country for several years around the world by using the term 'saffron terror' and 'Hindu terror'.
The BJP president said whenever Congress leaders went around the world all these years, they termed the Mecca Masjid blast case as saffron terror or Hindu terror. By doing so, they 'insulted' the nation, he said.
"Rahul Gandhi, terrorism does not have any?religion. You should apologise to the nation," he said.
Shah said Congress was now saying they never used saffron or Hindu terror terminologies.
He said he wished to state 'some truths' that Rahul Gandhi had mentioned about it on December 16 2010 before the U.S. Ambassador, which was revealed by Wikileaks.
The terminologies were also used by P Chidambaram on August 25, 2010, Sushil Kumar Shinde on January 20, 2013 and Salman Khurshid on January 20, 2013, Shah said.
"And Digvijay Singh had said it several times... and also Siddaramaiah said it on January 10 in 2018," he added.
"Can Hindu be linked to terror? Is it possible? Does terrorism has any religion at all? We were silent because the case was being heard in the court," Shah said.
He said all the accused had been acquitted. The court did not find any evidence to prove their guilt.
"They were declared innocent. Hence Rahul Gandhi, Sushil Kumar Shinde and P Chidamabaram should apologise to the nation," he said.
Following the BJP attack in the wake of the Mecca Masjid blast verdict on Monday, Congress had said there was nothing called 'saffron terror' and asserted that terror cannot be linked to any religion or community.
The party had also asserted that neither its leader Rahul Gandhi nor the party had ever used the phrase.
Congress had reacted in reply to the BJP attack over it following acquittal of right-wing activist Aseemanand and four others in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.
BJP had attacked Congress, alleging the party had defamed Hindus by using the term "saffron terror" and demanded an apology from both the previous and current Congress presidents - Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
On Rahul Gandhi's criticism of Modi's rule, Shah said his great grandfather Nehru, grandmother Indira Gandhi,?Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had ruled for four generations.
"People are demanding an account of what your family has done to Karnataka for the past four generations," he said.
"Narendra Modi's government has done more things for Karnataka in just four years compared to what Congress had done for the past four generations," he said.
On the seventh round of his tour, Shah is on a two-day visit to the city to boost the prospects of BJP in the May 12? assembly polls.
Earlier in the day, police foiled an attempt by a group to stage a demonstration near a Basaveshwara statue here, demanding a separate religion tag to Lingayats shortly before Shah's visit.
Shah garlanded the statue of the 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara on his birth anniversary, celebrated as "Basava Jayanti", a public holiday.
During his visits, Shah has been reaching out to the Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats, meeting their seers and holding meetings with their groups, apparently to ensure that the Congress does not cut into its voter base.
The BJP chief also called on Kannada scholar Chidanandamurthy and Dalit writer Siddalingaiah.
Shah also conducted a roadshow at Hoskote near Bengaluru.