NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Rahul Gandhi, seen as an Indian prime minister in waiting, told the U.S. ambassador radical Hindu groups could pose a bigger threat than the Islamists who attacked Mumbai in 2008, a leaked cable showed.
The comments made to Timothy Roemer last year were immediately criticised by the main
opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding to political sparring that has deadlocked parliament and pushed policymaking into limbo. Gandhi’s comments, made in response a question from Roemer on the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, referred to religious tension created by more extreme BJP leaders, according to the cable released by WikiLeaks and published on Friday by Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Gandhi said there was evidence of some support for the LeT among Indian Muslims, the ambassador wrote, according to the cable. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/219 238)
“However, Gandhi warned, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community,” Roemer wrote.
