There is no immediate comments from any Indian political party on a latest WikiLeaks revelation that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi feels that Hindu bigotry is bigger threat to India than Muslim community.
“The bigger threat (to India) may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community,” according to a cable by U.S ambassador to India Timothy Roemer which was released by Wikileaks on Thursday.
The August 3, 2009 cable records Roemer’s observations from a “candid conversation” he had with Rahul Gandhi at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton two weeks earlier.
Roemer reports Gandhi as saying, in response to his query about Lashkar-e-Taiba’s activities in the region and immediate threat to India, that there was evidence of some support for the group among certain elements in India’s indigenous Muslim community.
However, the risk of a “home-grown” extremist front, reacting to terror attacks coming from Pakistan or from Islamist groups in India, was a growing concern and one that demanded constant attention.
Roemer’s comments that he (Rahul Gandhi) “was referring to the tensions created by some of the more polarizing figures in the BJP such as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,” media reports said Friday.
This cable is one of about 3,038 U.S. diplomatic cables sent from Delhi and leaked by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is releasing a quarter million secret US documents and 5,087 records amongst these refer to India.