BJP seeks to bury charges against Narendra Modi for post-Godhra riots

NEW DELHI: Seeking to bury charges against Narendra Modi, BJP today said "falsehoods" about the Godhra train fire, the Gujarat chief minister's reported remarks that 2002 riots were a reaction to it and his alleged orders to let Hindus vent their anger have been "exposed and rejected".

In his latest blog posting on his website, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley reasoned how the "sustained campaign (conspiracy)" against Modi on the post-Godhra riots "has collapsed as it was based on falsehoods".

He rubbished the Justice U C Banerjee Commission's report that said the fire in S-6 bogey of Sabarmati Express could have started from inside and no mob had burnt the coach.

"It was clear from day one that a misguided mob at the Godhra Railway station, of members belonging to one community had set the Sabarmati Express compartment No. S-6 on fire," Jaitley said, adding the Supreme Court-appointed SIT, which probed the incident, found that fuel for setting the coach on fire was brought in vehicles to the station a day before.

"The motivation of this false campaign was to establish that the Hindu community had set the compartment on fire so that the provocation could lead to riots in Gujarat," he said.

The BJP leader claimed that a statement attributed to Modi- in which he said that the riots were a reaction to the Godhra train burning- was "false".

"The said interview quoted Modi as saying that every action has a reaction and therefore the post-Godhra violence was justified as a reaction. Narendra Modi maintained that he had not given any such interview," Jaitley said.

He regretted that the newspaper carried a clarification only 20 days later and even then did not publish it prominently.

The eminent lawyer also denies the claims of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt that a meeting of seniormost police and administration officials took place at Modi's residence in which the Chief Minister reportedly said Hindus should be allowed to vent their anger.

"The SIT concluded that Sanjeev Bhat was not present in the meeting and no such statement was made by the Chief Minister. It further concluded that contemporaneous statement of the Chief Minister were absolutely contrary to what was being alleged. The magisterial court has endorsed that view of the SIT," Jaitley said.