Malegaon blast acquittals destroyed Congress ‘conspiracy’ to manufacture false narrative of Hindu terror: BJP

The acquittal of all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case “destroyed the Congress’s conspiracy to manufacture a false narrative of ‘Hindu terrorism’ in order to stop the rise of the BJP and its leaders Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, and to appease Muslims,” the BJP claimed on Thursday (July 31, 2025).

Welcoming the court ruling, the party demanded an apology from former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. It sought compensation for those acquitted and demanded that action be taken against those involved in torturing and falsely implicating them. Among the accused were former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.

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‘Accused were framed, tortured’

“It was a well calculated conspiracy of the Congress party for sheer vote bank politics. We welcome the court’s decision, which has once again proved that you cannot falsify the truth by your diabolical design for too long; truth has the uncanny habit of reappearing with alarming regularity,” former Union Minister and senior BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.

“Colonel Purohit, a highly decorated army officer who fought against terrorism in Kashmir, was framed... Pragya Thakur, a very good leader, was accused of bringing a bomb on her motorcycle. She was tortured for 10 to 11 days to the extent that it became difficult for her to walk later,” he said.

‘Saffron terror’

Mr. Prasad said that under the Congress-led UPA regime, the then-Home Minister P. Chidambaram had spoken about ‘saffron terror’ at a Director-Generals of Police conference in 2012. “Another Home Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde had also talked about ‘saffron terror’. Rahul Gandhi, during a conversation with the American Ambassador, had said that ‘Hindu terror is more deadly than Lashkar-e-Taiba’... It is still there in the Wikileaks files,” he said.

The BJP leader recalled that he had held a press conference at that time to counter Mr. Chidambaram’s remarks, and had pointed out that there was saffron in India’s tricolour, and that the Indian saints also wore saffron. “This is the colour of India’s cultural and spiritual tradition, isn’t it?” he said.

‘Appeasement politics’

Mr. Prasad cited several other instances to allege that the Congress indulged in appeasement politics. He said that a Commission appointed by the then-Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had ruled out any conspiracy behind the fire that killed Hindu pilgrims on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra in Gujarat in 2002. In the Ishrat Jahan case, Union Home Minister Amit Shah — who was then a Minister in the Gujarat government led by Mr. Modi as the Chief Minister — was framed on the basis of two “sold-out” witnesses and had to remain in jail for several months without any evidence, he added.

The BJP leader also listed the bomb blasts on the Samjhauta Express, at the Mecca Masjid, and at the Ajmer Dargah, as well as the 26/11 Mumbai attacks cases, in support of his allegation that the Congress could go to any extent for the sake of a “Muslim vote bank”. The attempts to build a “false narrative of Hindu terrorism” were aimed at halting the rise of BJP, Mr. Modi, and Mr. Shah, he said.