 "If newsreport on LeT in Muzaffarnagar true, then Rahul was right: Digvijay")
Commenting on recent news reports of the Lashkar-e-Taiba approaching Muzaffarnagar riot victims Congress Party general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said that if this information was credible, then whatever party vice president Rahul Gandhi had said three months ago has turned out to be correct.
"If it is true, then whatever Rahul Gandhi said, was right. Also, we need to understand that we have to deal with such issues with a lot of sensitivity," said Digvijay.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said that if the whole incident was true, then the police should investigate the matter.
"Whatever Rahul Gandhi said or the police investigated, I have no idea. But, if it is true the police should investigate the matter. If any information comes, the Uttar Pradesh Government is definitely going to investigate it," said Agarwal.
"Muzaffarnagar is being politicized. Every leader is going there with political motive in mind and not out for humanity which is wrong," he said.
Congress leader Meem Afzal said that he that it was an extremely sensitive matter if it was true.
More From This Section
"I don't have information on that but this is a very sensitive matter and should be dealt with very carefully," said Afzal.
Congress leader Jagdambika Pal said that it is a very serious issue if it is true because Rahul Gandhi's statement on the same issue had created a lot of political stir.
"Rahul Gandhi's statement on the same issue had created a lot of political stir. It is also very clear that whenever there are communal riots in the country, terrorist groups like LeT always try to take advantage of the situation," said Pal
"They try their best to destabilize the country. So, all parties and people from all communities have to fight this in unity," he said.
A group of men living in the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar's relief camps have told investigators that two imams had approached them to join a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) module, according to reports.
Two Haryana imams were arrested last month for their suspected links to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
A LeT operative, had allegedly visited relief camps of victims of the Muzaffarnagar communal riots and sought to recruit men.
The men, who recorded their statements, are residents of relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. They are believed to have told investigators that the two imams from Mewat-Hafeez Rashidi and Shahid-allegedly made numerous visits along with a senior LeT operative, currently on the run, according to the reports.
Three months back, Rahul Gandhi had created a political stir and backlash, when he claimed that intelligence officers had told him about Pakistan's ISI trying to recruit angry Muslim youth from Muzaffarnagar.
Forty-five people have died in the prosperous sugarcane district of Muzaffarnagar and surrounding areas since clashes erupted between Muslims and majority Hindu Jats - a conservative farming community - in a sign of rising tension between the two groups ahead of general elections due by May. Government officials say 10 of the dead are Hindus.
The riot-hit victims languish in some 40 schools and mosques that have been converted into relief camps across Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring areas, grateful for the safety in numbers and the three meals of rice and lentils provided daily.
The clashes were triggered on August 27 when a Muslim youth was stabbed to death by two Hindu youths after being accused of sexually harassing their sister. A Muslim mob stoned the two Hindus to death.
In the following days the police failed to deal with the perpetrators, and politicians from various parties gave inflammatory speeches, stoking tension between Hindus and Muslims who, local people say, had lived in this area in relative harmony since independence in 1947.