2008 Malegaon case: Congress attempted to fabricate “saffron terror” narrative to humiliate Hindus and for vote-bank politics, says BJP

Former ATS officer Mehboob Mujawar has claim that pressure was exerted on him to arrest Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (August 1, 2025) cited the statement of a former Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) officer, who was involved in the investigation into the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast, to allege that the then Congress government had attempted to “fabricate a narrative of Saffron terror to humiliate Hindus and for vote-bank politics”.

In a statement to the media, former ATS officer Mehboob Mujawar has claim that pressure was exerted on him to arrest Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra referred to Mr. Mujawar’s remarks to accuse the Congress party of doing “vindictive politics”, stating that “the Gandhi family was intent on defaming Sanatan”. He said the recent statement by senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan — that “terrorism has no religion” — was a “well-worn phrase of Congress’s appeasement politics”.

Stating that Mr. Mujawar had made an important disclosure, the BJP leader said: “He revealed that top ATS officers and some influential figures in the then government pressured him to push forward the ‘saffron terror’ narrative at all costs and to arrest RSS Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat under that conspiracy, even though his name was nowhere in the chargesheet or the investigation....”

“But Mehboob Mujawar...clearly stated that he would not act outside the framework of the Constitution or damage the country’s democratic fabric. After this refusal, his own senior officers framed him with false and serious charges. Some allegations were imposed on him, resulting in his promotion being blocked. Later, Mujawar approached the court, where he was completely exonerated. The court also ruled that all allegations against him were baseless and malicious,” said Mr. Patra.

“The Congress government at the time had reached new heights of vindictive mentality. Individuals associated with the BJP, followers of Hinduism, and senior functionaries of the RSS were deliberately humiliated, arrested, and targeted for personal revenge. The Congress was operating in a completely retaliatory mode, and all of this was happening at the behest of the Gandhi family,” he alleged.

He said former Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was the first to use the term “saffron terror” during a Congress party convention. “When asked why he said so and whether it was appropriate, he smiled and said: ‘I now feel what I said was wrong, but I only did what my party high command told me’...who is the Congress high command? In the Congress party, the high command is not an institution — it is just one family, the Gandhi family. There is only one command, but many faces behind it — Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,” he said.

On Thursday, in the Malegaon case, a Mumbai NIA court acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.