The Bharatiya Janata Party has its own problems with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s campaign effort for the ongoing assembly elections. He did not make an appearance in Punjab and Uttarakhand, and is now an uncertainty even in Uttar Pradesh.
However, this has not prevented him from tying the Congress party into knots. Modi’s governance record that saw him get re-elected in Gujarat first became a talking point for the Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit at one of her campaign meetings. Lambasting the non-performance of the Mayawati government and calling for the BSP’s defeat, Dikshit was all praise for Modi’s governance.
Coming soon after a controversial advertisement in Gujarat that appreciated Modi as an organiser, this was the second faux pas on the Congress side, and the party was hard put to defend it.
But putting up a brave face, party spokesperson Manish Tiwari sought to make a comparison between Modi and Hitler. “Even the Nazis built an autobahn, but they are remembered for Auschwitz,” he said stressing he was not drawing parallel between the two.
Tiwari said Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat carnage cannot be overlooked. “If he is really free of any responsibility then why doesn’t he simply present himself before the Nanavati Commission, instead of claiming a small victory here and there,” he added.
Referring to the Gujarat ad fiasco, Tiwari pointed out that the Congress could not help if ‘sarcasm’ is lost on somebody. “The so-called praise is actually sarcastic,” he said.
However, the Congress is stumped for an answer when asked as to why can’t it simply shoot straight when it comes to targeting Modi. “These are individual episodes, and one should not read too much into them,” said a Congress general secretary.
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