Congress rises to chief's defence
With the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi claiming that his reported public justification of the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh was provoked by Sonia Gandhi “calling me a merchant of death” and LK Advani promptly trying to turn the EC heat on h...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI : With the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi claiming that his reported public justification of the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh was provoked by Sonia Gandhi “calling me a merchant of death” and LK Advani promptly trying to turn the EC heat on her, the Congress on Friday clarified that Ms Gandhi’s particular remark was not aimed at the BJP chief minister. It pertains to ‘some functionaries’ like “encounter specialist Vanzara who served in the Modi government.”
The quick clarification from Kapil Sibal on behalf of the Congress central establishment was meant to not only avert any EC troubles for Ms Gandhi, but also defuse the BJP attempt to give an emotive spin to the Sonia remarks in a state, vulnerable to polarisation tactics.
“Mrs Gandhi took no names...She said nothing wrong,” chief Congress election spokesperson Sibal said at a press conference when asked to react to Mr Advani’s demand to EC to act against Ms Gandhi for the “merchants of death remark.” Pressed on Ms Gandhi’s remarks, Mr Sibal added: “She (Ms Gandhi) talked about it (read the merchants of death) in the context of the actions of some people in the Gujarat state administration. Is it not a fact that Vanzara (the senior IPS officer now in jail for a series of alleged fake encounters) killed so many innocent people in fake encounter when he was serving under the Modi government? She said what the state government has already admitted in the Supreme Court (about Vanzara) , nothing more, nothing less,”
Mr Sibal then pointed at the rumblings within the Modi administration after the chief minister’s public comment on the Sohrabuddin killing. “Mrs Gandhi said ‘your state functionaries’. ‘Merchants of death’ was meant for the manner in which certain state functionaries were working,” he said.
The Gujarat government’s own counsel (KTS Tulsi) is saying Mr Modi should not have said it,”
The BJP-Congress encounter on Friday is rooted to the election speech Ms Gandhi delivered in Gujarat in which she is reportedly to have said: “The truth is that in today’s Gujarat those who run the government are liars, corrupt and peddlers of religion and death.”
Mr Sibal’s measured clarification and political defence of Ms Gandhi against the BJP attack on Friday stood contrast to his counterpart Abhishek Singhvi‘s response at a press conference a day after Ms Gandhi’s speech.
Mr Singhvi had said in his briefing that the ‘merchants of death’ was not only most appropriate for Modi but in fact was too mild.
Mr Sibal also refuted Mr Modi’s claim that he was only focusing on developmental issues in his campaign till Ms Gandhi’s made that speech. Mr Sibal on Friday released to the Press copies of two advertisements that the Modi-led Gujarat BJP published in Gujarat media on November 28 and 30.
The quick clarification from Kapil Sibal on behalf of the Congress central establishment was meant to not only avert any EC troubles for Ms Gandhi, but also defuse the BJP attempt to give an emotive spin to the Sonia remarks in a state, vulnerable to polarisation tactics.
“Mrs Gandhi took no names...She said nothing wrong,” chief Congress election spokesperson Sibal said at a press conference when asked to react to Mr Advani’s demand to EC to act against Ms Gandhi for the “merchants of death remark.” Pressed on Ms Gandhi’s remarks, Mr Sibal added: “She (Ms Gandhi) talked about it (read the merchants of death) in the context of the actions of some people in the Gujarat state administration. Is it not a fact that Vanzara (the senior IPS officer now in jail for a series of alleged fake encounters) killed so many innocent people in fake encounter when he was serving under the Modi government? She said what the state government has already admitted in the Supreme Court (about Vanzara) , nothing more, nothing less,”
Mr Sibal then pointed at the rumblings within the Modi administration after the chief minister’s public comment on the Sohrabuddin killing. “Mrs Gandhi said ‘your state functionaries’. ‘Merchants of death’ was meant for the manner in which certain state functionaries were working,” he said.
The Gujarat government’s own counsel (KTS Tulsi) is saying Mr Modi should not have said it,”
The BJP-Congress encounter on Friday is rooted to the election speech Ms Gandhi delivered in Gujarat in which she is reportedly to have said: “The truth is that in today’s Gujarat those who run the government are liars, corrupt and peddlers of religion and death.”
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Within days, Mr Modi who landed in the EC court for his Sohrabuddin remark, said he was provoked to make that remark by “Ms Gandhi who called me a merchant of death.”Mr Sibal’s measured clarification and political defence of Ms Gandhi against the BJP attack on Friday stood contrast to his counterpart Abhishek Singhvi‘s response at a press conference a day after Ms Gandhi’s speech.
Mr Singhvi had said in his briefing that the ‘merchants of death’ was not only most appropriate for Modi but in fact was too mild.
Mr Sibal also refuted Mr Modi’s claim that he was only focusing on developmental issues in his campaign till Ms Gandhi’s made that speech. Mr Sibal on Friday released to the Press copies of two advertisements that the Modi-led Gujarat BJP published in Gujarat media on November 28 and 30.
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“Mr Modi brought out advertisements that were communal in nature in Gujarati papers on November 28 and 30, much before Mrs Gandhi went to Gujarat. He has lied in saying he never said anything communal and that he was provoked,” Mr Sibal said, flashing the copies of the BJP advertisements talking about Godhra incident and terrorism on communal lines.Download
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