Will verify WikiLeaks cable on Rahul: Congress

Friday December 17, 2010 02:23:35 PM, IANS

New Delhi: The Congress Friday said it would comment on the Wikileaks cable release about Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Hindu radical groups after verifying its authenticity.

"We will inquire into this matter, verify its authenticity and let you know thereafter," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters while replying to queries about Gandhi's comments carried by Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Gandhi last year told US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer that "the growth of radicalised Hindu groups" may be a "bigger threat" to India than support to some Islamic terror groups from the Muslim community, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

The Congress MP said that although "there was evidence of some support for (Islamic terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba) among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community", the Guardian reported Friday.

Answering a volley of questions, Singhvi said there was no need to comment on the issue at this stage and the party will speak, if needed, after verifying the facts.

He said the party will "definitely inquire into the issue. We have to see the authenticity" of the revelations.

On the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reaction that Gandhi's comments were irresponsible, Singhvi said the opposition party kept making such statements.

"Do people listen to such allegations," Singhvi asked.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier said: "BJP condemns the statement, which is irresponsible. If Rahul is worried about Hindu terror, he must speak in parliament...It shows how little he knows about India."

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