Almost all those who confessed on camera in the Tehelka sting are known Modi-baiters. This, say BJP sources, only raises more questions.
NEW DELHI: Almost all those who confessed on camera in the Tehelka sting are known Modi-baiters. This, say BJP sources, only raises more questions. The whole thing was more in an interview, question-answer form than in the typical sting format, according to senior BJP leaders.
BJP sources claim these characters had been completely sidelined by the Modi government and thus either went in for “empty boasts” in front of a camera or “said what they said with a purpose”.
While the BJP has officially blamed the Congress for a “collusive sting”, party sources do not rule out a helping hand from Sangh Parivar insiders who have a deep dislike for Modi.
Take Babu Bajrangi for instance. He had been a small time VHP functionary till the riots took place and gained infamy after the Naroda Patiya massacre. He had been considered an extreme element even by VHP standards.
Of late he had seen Modi as slackening on Hindutva and had fallen out with another acknowledged extreme element of the VHP, Pravin Togadia. He formed his own outfit and subsequently joined the Shiv Sena.
The BJP MLA from Godhra, Haresh Patel, is a VHP man. He began his political career as a Modi loyalist but had lately joined the ranks of the dissidents. He was one of the principal participants in the birthday bash organised for the senior dissident leader AK Patel.
Another person who gave a graphic description of DSP Gadvi shooting five minority community members during the riots is a VHP man. The BJP claims that Gadvi was never posted in that area and no shots were fired from his service revolver. Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said countered the claim in the expose that Modi visited Naroda Patiya and congratulated the rioters. “The chief minister’s movement is part of the record and it can be verified if he visited at a particular place”, Prasad said.
Former minister of state for Home Gordhan Zadaphia name repeatedly comes up in the expose. Zadaphia is one of the most prominent Modi baiters. The BJP wants the Congress to explain why it has been sharing a dais with Zadaphia.
There are a few exceptions, like the lawyer Arvind Pandya. But he is now all set to lose his job. An official order from the Gujarat government is expected any time now.
While the BJP has no doubts about the advantage it has in Gujarat, in terms of polarisation of the electorate, it is worried about its image in the rest of the country. The BJP urged the Election Commission to “check attempts to communally divide the people when the model code of conduct had already come into force [for the elections in Gujarat].”
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