New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): A day ahead of parliament's budget session, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Wednesday expressed regret for his "Hindu terrorism" remark that threatened to stall the functioning of the house and was roundly criticised by the BJP.
"Since my statement created controversy, I express regret," Shinde said in a statement.
"I had no intention to link terrorism with any religion…My statement given in Jaipur last month has created misunderstanding," Shinde said.
Shinde had made "Hindu terrorism" and "saffron terrorism" remarks at the Congress chintan shivir at Jaipur last month triggering strong protests from the Bharatiya Janata Party and some other organisations.
The issue threatened to cast its shadow over the budget session of parliament as the BJP had decided it will not respond to any communication from Shinde as Leader of the House in Lok Sabha
The party had also decided it will boycott public programmes of Shinde till he apologized for his remarks.
BJP raised the issue of Shinde's remarks at the all party meeting called by Speaker Meira Kumar Wednesday and said the matter should be resolved first.
BJP president Rajnath Singh and colleagues Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar were detained along with a mass of supporters at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital when they sought to take out a march to protest Shinde's remarks.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had given an indication of government's desire to resolve the issue after an all-party meeting.
He said the government would find a solution to the issue.
Sources said Shinde and Sushma Swaraj met in presence of speaker Meira Kumar after the all-party meeting.