Mohali, May 09: With BJP often attacking the UPA government on alleged delay in executing Parliament attack death row convict Afzal Guru, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said he will be hanged when his turn comes.
"The Parliament attack accused is twenty second on the list (those who are to be hanged for various crimes). There is a huge line and there are others before him. When his number (turn) comes, he will be hanged," Gandhi told an election rally here this evening.
The 38-year-old Nehru-Gandhi scion defended the UPA government`s policies on tackling terrorism and lashed out at BJP, which accuses Congress of being inept in handling the scourge, for bowing before the terrorists.
"Whose creation is Afzal Guru? Who sent him (to carry out terror act)? It was Masood Azhar, the top terrorist who was in jail but was released by BJP-led NDA government," he said.
Lashing out at BJP`s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani without naming him, Rahul accused the saffron leader of shifting responsibility for the release of dreaded terrorists in connection with Indian Airlines plane hijack to Kandahar.
Gandhi said BJP had forgotten about the Indian Airlines hijack to Kandahar "and even if you ask them to show the place on map they won`t be able to do so because it was during their time that their minister Jaswant Singh escorted the dreaded terrorists to Kandahar".
"They bowed before terrorists. Parliament attack happened and so many of our brave soldiers lost their lives while fighting the terrorists. But today, BJP has forgotten about the families and children of these soldiers," he charged.
He said on the other hand there is a "strong leader" like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who after last year`s Mumbai terror attacks, had forced Pakistan to admit by exerting diplomatic pressure that terrorists involved in the incidents were its nationals.
Bureau Report
