Apparently distancing itself from the Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur episode, the Hindu Mahasabha has said it does not support terrorism by anyone and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of encashing on Hindu sentiments by coming out in support of the Malegaon blast accused.
"The BJP is encashing on religious sentiments of Hindus again for their politics. Earlier they had encashed on the Ram janmabhoomi issue and this time it wants to encash on Malegaon and sentiments about the arrest of Hindu religious leaders," said Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha spokesperson Pravin Sharma.
"We are tired of the BJP and Sangh Parivar befooling Hindus over one issue or the other. Now they are seeking funds from people on the pretext of providing legal aid to the Malegaon blast accused. We strictly condemn the act and the accused involved in the act," he said.
Maintaining that the ABHM is not supportive of the Malegaon blast and other acts of terrorism, he termed the BJP as "an opportunist political party playing politics over terrorism".
"Please ask the BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh and Abhinav Bharat as to what contribution they have made for Hindus and Hindutva so far," the ABHM, which is contesting in some assembly seats in Delhi and Rajasthan, said.
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On the other hand, national president of ABHM, Chandra Prasad Kaushik, alleged that the BJP was working to pit Hindus and Muslims against each other over '"irrelevant terrorism issue' so that L K Advani can become the prime minister.
Reacting to the ABHM's allegations, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "What is the use, what is the political significance? Had these charges been made by the Congress, we would have reacted."
Reacting to media reports that the ABHM is keen on providing legal assistance to the Malegaon blast accused, Kaushik denied such claims as 'false and baseless projections of our ideologies'.
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"We do not support terrorism by anyone on this land, rather we are keen to prepare the youth for protecting our borders," said Kaushik.
Denying its hardline stand against minority communities, ABHM national youth secretary Umesh Tyagi claimed his organisation is actively involved in promoting inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.
"We will take legal action against anyone who claims to be collecting funds in our name for assisting the Malegaon blast accused," said Tyagi.
Full text of Advani's statement on Sadhvi Pragya and the Maharashtra ATS
The ABHM had 17 MPs in the parliament during 1952, later in 1962 it created space for Jan Sangh and allowed it to flourish as a political party under the RSS.
"That was a historical mistake as the RSS befooled us when we said we want to divert our attention to social service and entrust politics with them. Over the years, they have moved from our ideologies and betrayed us," said Kaushik.
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The organisation, which states its motto is to 'Hinduise' politics and militise Hindus (rajniti ka hindukaran aur hinduo ka sainikaran), wants to get back into the mainstream through participation in assembly and Parliament elections now.
Eminent leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and current Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee's father, N C Chatterjee, were associated with the ABHM as office bearers.
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