Modi recalls Ahmedabad blasts, says SP sympathetic to terrorists

Hardoi (UP): Days after a court convicted 49 people for the Ahmedabad serial blasts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he had vowed to punish the perpetrators even if they took refuge in "paatal", and accused the Samajwadi Party of being sympathetic to such terrorists. Addressing a BJP campaign rally in Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, he said he had wondered why the terrorists had opted for "bicycle", the Samajwadi Party's election symbol, to plant bombs in the initial blasts in Ahmedabad.

He slammed the Samajwadi Party for being sympathetic towards terrorists and claimed that the previous government headed by it had sought to withdraw cases against several terror accused as "a return gift". Modi said, "When I was the chief minister of Gujarat, the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts took place. I can never forget that day when the earth was reddened by the blood of the victims of the serial blasts.

There were uncontrolled tears. I picked up the blood-soaked soil and took a 'sankalp' (vow) that my government will track these terrorists, even from 'paataal' (netherworld), and punish them." "I remained silent for so many years because the hearing on the Ahmedabad blasts case was going on. Today, when the court has given them the punishment, I am raising the subject before the country," he told the rally.

On February 18, a special court in Ahmedabad had sentenced to death 38 members of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen in the 2008 serial blasts case. The court also sentenced 11 other convicts to life imprisonment. "Those who wanted to destroy us -- the Indians -- have been punished by the court.... You all know that when there is a terrorist attack and when terrorism increases, the maximum loss is borne by the poor and the middle class.