Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi used an election rally at Godhra on Wednesday to further up the ante, challenging the Congress to take him to court.
Why has Afzal Guru not been hanged, he asks at election rally in Godhra
NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi used an election rally at Godhra on Wednesday to further up the ante, challenging the Congress to take him to court and asking the UPA government at the Centre why it had not yet hanged Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack case. This when his remarks on Tuesday on the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh already has the Congress and several other parties baying for his blood and the BJP scrambling to defend him.
Meanwhile Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said he had not received any complaint on Modi’s remarks of Tuesday and so had nothing to say on the issue. “We cannot take action till we receive a complaint. If there is any complaint the district magistrate and returning officer would report to us and only after that we would say anything,” the CEC said.
On Tuesday, Modi asked the crowd at an election rally, “what should be done to a man who stored illegal arms and ammunition? You tell me what should have been done to Sohrabuddin?’’ The crowd replied, “Kill him, kill him.” “Well, that is it. Do I have to take Sonia Gandhi’s permission to do this? Hang me if I have done anything wrong,” responded Modi.
Modi’s comments are being viewed in political circles, as an attempt to once again try and polarise the situation in Gujarat on communal lines. “These are the rantings of a man who knows he is about to lose the elections. It’s also brazen attempt to inject a communal color into the elections,” said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi on Wednesday.
The BJP, however, claimed his statement “had been twisted out of context”. The central party leaders are playing down the issue, aware of the legal implications and the fallout for party’s image in rest of the country.
The BJP’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha VK Malhotra said “chief minister Modi’s statement has been twisted. From what has appeared today in the media given an impression that Modi’s has owned up Sohrabuddin killing in an encounter. This is not true. He did not even take any name.”
But Gujarat BJP leaders are not repentant. On the contrary, they are happy that Modi has brought “josh” (vigour), into a lacklustre campaign.
A senior party leader told DNA from Ahmedabad that “fruits of development is visible in all parts of Gujarat. But our internal surveys suggested that the development graph would not translate into electoral gains.” This was apparently an elaborate constituency-wise assessment of the current ground situation.
“Why blame Modi or us. It began with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She accused us of being a bunch of liars, and merchants of death. It was Modi’s reply to her accusations. We know that the case is pending before the Supreme Court. He did not say anything on his own but asked the crowd to respond to his queries,” the BJP leader said.
In Godhra, Modi said, “I am not ‘Trader of Death’ but Congress government is giving shelter to the traders of death by eliminating laws like POTA, which was implemented by the NDA government … Why is the Congress government not hanging Afzal Guru, who has been given sentenced to death by the Supreme Court.”
He also challenged the Congress saying “If the Congress government has enough evidence, why is it not taking me to court?” Modi also accused the Congress of defaming Gujarat and of playing vote bank politics.
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