National

BJP salutes martyrs

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party here on Saturday placed on record its appreciation of “all the brave officers and men who rescued India from the clutches of terrorists in Mumbai.”

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said “We salute them. The country will ever remain grateful to these brave men who laid down their lives fighting terror.”

“Now the time has come for the country to stand united and speak in one voice in the fight against terror,” he said adding that a consensus was necessary on all the slew of measures, including legal, that need to be taken to strengthen the security apparatus in the country.

The statement has come a day ahead of an all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday to discuss issues arising out of the Mumbai attacks.

The party had at first – immediately after news of the Mumbai attacks came – said “the country needs to speak in one voice and it supported the Government in its fight in the “war-like” situation created by the terrorists in Mumbai. However, later it began criticising the government and placed big advertisements in newspapers in an attempt to take electoral advantage from the terrorist attack.

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