New Delhi, May 12: UNION home minister P. Chidambaram equated Hindutva terrorism with crossborder jihadi extremism and said it was a key threat to national security.
“There are four types of terror threats that the country is facing. There is crossborder jihadi terrorism, insurgency in the North- East, Naxalism and terrorism sponsored by Hindu extremist groups,” Chidambaram said, addressing a book release event on Tuesday.
This was perhaps the first time the Union home minister raised the red flag on Hindutva terror groups.
Chidambaram said: “ Homegrown Muslim and Sikh extremist groups pose a threat. The policymakers must assess the threat and factor them in while framing future strategies.” Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had met Chidambaram on Friday and urged him to set up a separate cell to deal with Hindutva terrorism. He reportedly cited the increasing evidence of involvement of hard- line saffron outfits in terror activities to demand such a cell.
According to Singh, the arrest of an RSS activist in connection with the Ajmer blast exposed a chain linking all such incidents to Indore and Ujjain.
Earlier, in an article published in a newspaper, Singh had also said Chidambaram was treating the Naxalite issue as a law and order problem.
He said the approach was wrong and called for a rethink on counter- Maoist strategy.
Chidambaram appeared to toe Singh’s line on the Maoist issue at the function.
The home minister ruled out the use of military power in his counter- Naxalite strategy and stressed that such a policy must factor in ethical considerations.
“ Dictatorial governments deal with such problems in a different way. In Sri Lanka terrorism was dealt with in that manner. We in India cannot do that.
There are ethical issues involved. This has to be factored in decision- making process,” Chidambaram said.
The Union home minister went on to say that a healthy debate is going on in the country in regard to how the Naxalite menace can be controlled. “ We are hopeful that at the end of the debate a path will emerge.” Pointing out that the definition of cross- border terrorism now extended beyond Pakistan, the home minister said that it had reached countries of West Asia. “ While we can control insurgency in the North- East and Naxalism, crossborder terrorism is unfortunately beyond our reach,” he said.