Development dumped, religion takes centre-stage in Gujarat
The BJP’S rivals have intensified their attack on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi after he justified the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The BJP’S rivals have intensified their attack on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi after he justified the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter. The Congress, which has already described Mr Modi as ‘maut ka saudagr’ (or peddler of death), reacted to Mr Modi’s words by saying that they were proof that the party was right about the BJP leader.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi also said that Mr Modi was guilty of contempt of court as the Sohrabuddin case was being heard in the Supreme Court. The CPM described Mr Modi’s comments as shameful.
The BJP, for its part, defended Mr Modi and said that he was ‘politically’ responding to the statements made against him. With the BJP hoping to use the Sohrabuddin issue to communally polarise voters ahead of the first phase of polling, the matter is now set to take centre stage ahead of the December 11 elections.
According to reports, Mr Modi had asked the crowd at the Mangrol rally: “What should be done to a man who stored illegal arms and ammunition? You tell me what should have been done to Sohrabuddin?” To this the crowd is said to have responded: “Kill him, Kill him”. And Mr Modi then said: “Well, that is it. Do I have to take Sonia Gandhi’s permission to do this? Hang me if I have done anything wrong”.
The Congress spokesperson told reporters in Parliament that if Mr Modi had asked some question to the people, his party too would like to do the same. “Doesn’t the chief minister know to honour the rule of law? If the chief minister holds anyone guilty will he be hanged from a tree like Sohrabuddin?”
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Mr Singhvi also said that people should in a ‘constitutional manner’ remove the failed government in Gujarat. He demanded that the Election Commission should take suo moto notice of Mr Modi’s words and added that the Congress would take action against Mr Modi if it get elected to power.CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, while condemning Mr Modi’s remarks, said that even the prime minister could not decide the fate of a murderer and only the legal process could do so. “It is the law that pronounces the punishment.
To justify the act of a murder, it is even worse,” he said.
Central Election Commissioner, N Gopalaswamy, meanwhile, said the Election Commission would take a decision on Mr Modi’s controversial speech after if got a report on the matter. “I have not yet received a report from the Surat collector on the speech of Narendra Modi,” Mr Gopalaswamy told reporters in Surat.
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BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who is in charge of the party’s Gujarat affairs, defended Mr Modi and said the chief minister had only ‘politically responded‘ to the kind of statements that the Congress was making. Mr Modi was responding specifically to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that he was a ‘merchant of death’, Mr Jaitley said.Meanwhile, Mr Modi charged the Congress with defaming Hindus of the state by calling them terrorists (atankwadis), a day after he justified the encounter of Sohrabbudin.
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“The Congress was defaming Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel by calling Hindus of Gujarat terrorists (atankwadis),” he said in an election meeting at Godhra, the sensitive town where the attack on Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002 led to the worst-ever communal riots in the history of the state.Mr Modi was referring to Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s statement here on Sunday in which the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had said that there was Hindu extremism in Gujarat.
To make the crowd responsive to his plank, Modi asked them whether they were ‘Hindus’ to which the chorus was ‘yes’. When he asked, if it was ‘atankwadi’ as the Congress says, they shouted ‘no’.
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