Afzal Guru was hanged by UPA for 'political reasons': Omar Abdullah

New Delhi: The hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had been carried out for “political reasons” by the then UPA government, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah alleged on Sunday. Reacting swiftly, former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde rejected this, saying: “It was not a political decision. The Supreme Court had given (its) verdict. We just implemented it. His mercy petition was rejected.”

Mr Abdullah said, in an interview to PTI, that he was out for dinner with his sister at a Delhi restaurant when he got a call from Mr Shinde, then home minister, saying he had just signed the papers for Guru to be hanged early the next morning and asking him to make law and order arrangements.

Mr Abdullah said that even as a last-minute effort, “I asked the home minister whether he was sure that nothing can be done. He said ‘no’ as he had signed the paper and the warrant had been issued, and asked me to deal with the implications.”

Noting that the cases of assassins of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and (former) Punjab CM Beant Singh had been handled differently, Mr Abdullah said: “The fact is, whether we like it or not, he was hanged for political reasons. It’s a fact... I had said I will not pass judgment on it until I see how the government handles other cases... Look how they handled assassins of Beant Singh and Rajiv Gandhi, and look how they jumped this guy up the queue... Clearly what other conclusion can you arrive at, other than this that they wanted to deny the BJP another handle to beat them.”