Red Fort blast: After PDP chief, Congress' Hussain Dalwai links blast to 'injustice' in J&K

Hussain Dalwai

Hours after Peoples Democratic Party chief attributed the recent terror attack near Delhi's Red Fort that claimed 13 lives and left several injured to Centre's failed policies in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Hussain Dalwai echoing similar sentiments said the explosion that killed 13 people was likely a repercussion for the "injustice" being done in Jammu and Kashmir.

In another controversial statement,  Dalwai questioned why bomb blasts happen during elections. On November 10, a blast ripped through a car which stopped at a red signal on a jam-packed road near the Red Fort, just a day before the Bihar assembly election results.

"Why are there bomb attacks around elections? This should be probed. This could also be the repercussion for the injustice in Jammu and Kashmir," Dalwai said. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari hit out at Dalwai, calling his remark a "pure vote bank politics".

"These allegations are as hopeless as when Congress was in power, and they said that Pakistan was not involved in the Mumbai terror attack. They said it was an RSS conspiracy. This is the trajectory of the Congress party. They always issue such hopeless and bizarre remarks. And they do that because they believe it will pander to their vote-bank," he said.

He also cited senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's "home-grown terrorists" remark, saying, "Even P Chidambaram, who was the Home Minister of the country, has said there could be the involvement of home-grown terrorists in this." Last week, in a post on X, Chidambaram questioned what kind of circumstances "turn Indian citizens - even educated persons - into terrorists".

Earlier today, Mufti urged the Centre to revisit its Jammu and Kashmir policy. She urged the government to open the doors of dialogue to heal the wounds of people.

“You told the world, everything is fine in Kashmir. But you saw Kashmir's problem echoed in front of Red Fort. You had promised that you would make Jammu and Kashmir safe but you have made Delhi unsafe due to your policies,” Mehbooba said while addressing a Working Group meeting of the party in Srinagar on Sunday.