'Narendra Modi fought for 19 years, braved pain': Amit Shah defends PM after ruling on Gujarat riots

A day after the Supreme Court upheld the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 riots in the state and dismissed a plea by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri's wife Zakia Jafri, Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview to news agency ANI, said all allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi were politically motivated.

"A tall leader fought this 18-19-yr-long fight without saying a word and braving all pain like 'vishpaan' of Lord Shankar...I saw him suffering through this very closely. Only a strong-willed person could've taken stand to not say anything as case was sub-judice."

On charges of delay in calling in the Army

On the contention regarding the delay in calling in the Army during the riots, Shah said, “As far as Gujarat government is concerned, we were not late. The day Gujarat bandh call was given, we called in the Army that afternoon itself. The Army takes some time to reach…There wasn’t even a day’s delay. Court appreciated it too.”

On ED questioning Rahul Gandhi
Referring to the protests against the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case, Shah said, “This is not the first clean chit given to Modiji, he did not do any drama to appear before the SIT. We believed in the procedure of law, and Modiji agreed to cooperate.”

Regime comparision
“Take up any five years of governance under Congress and BJP, and see how many hours for curfew was there, how many people died, how many riots took place, and what was the duration of the riots, see and you’ll know riots under which government have been more. The major reason for the 2002 Gujarat riots was Godhra train burning incident,” the home minister said.

True democratic framework
“In a democracy, PM Modi presented an ideal example of how the Constitution should be respected by all political persons. Modiji was also questioned, but nobody protested, and (BJP) workers from across the country did not gather in solidarity with Modiji. We cooperated with the law. I was also arrested. There was no protest or demonstration,” he said.

Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed during violence at the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. His widow Zakia Jafri challenged the SIT's clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi who was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.

After 58 pilgrims were burnt alive on the Sabarmati Express train at Gujarat's Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002, riots broke out across the state in which more than 1,000 people were killed.