New Delhi, July 12, 2013
PTI
A political uproar erupted on Friday over certain comments by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on 2002 riots, with many parties such as Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI and JD(U) saying he had compared Muslims to a “puppy” and should apologise for the “humiliating” remarks.
The BJP, which was put on the backfoot by the comments, insisted that Mr. Modi’s remarks had been “misinterpreted” with an aim of “appeasing a particular community.”
In an interview to Reuters news agency, when asked if he regretted what had happened in 2002, Mr. Modi had said, “any person if we are driving a car, we are a driver, and someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will be painful or not? Of course, it is.”
Apologise: SP
Samajwadi Party spokesman Kamal Farooqui took strong exception to Mr. Modi’s comment. “It is a very sad, very humiliating and very disturbing statement... What does he (Modi) think, that Muslims are worse than even puppies? He does not have a heart for them. He should feel sorry... He should apologise,” Mr. Farooqui said.
“He (Modi) should be ashamed for using such a language,” the SP leader said, adding, “the earlier he apologises, the better it will be. Otherwise, there will be dangerous consequences.”
He is justifying genocide: CPI(M)
Attacking the Gujarat Chief Minister, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said, “the expression of regret just doesn’t come to Modi....There is something wrong fundamentally what he is saying.”
She said Mr. Modi “has been justifying that genocide in different ways. Whether it is a genocide, whether it is a cold-blooded murder, whether it is in the name of encounter, whether it is hushing up those cases and trying to promote those who were involved in it from beginning to end... It is a governance that has in it certain components which are against the Constitution of India and against basic human principles.”
Hoodwinking the masses: CPI
CPI leader D. Raja described Mr. Modi’s comments as “desperate attempt to deceive people and hoodwink the Indian masses.”
Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Mr. Modi was “gradually becoming his own worst enemy.” He said if Mr. Modi feels he is “misinterpreted”, he should talk less.
Dangerous if he becomes PM: JD(U)
Shivanand Tiwari, leader of JD(U), which only last snapped ties with BJP, attacked Mr. Modi and said "psycho-analysis should be done on him.”
He added that it would be a "very dangerous situation if a person of such a person becomes the country's Prime Minister.”
BJP defends Modi
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman sought to defend Mr. Modi, saying his comments had been "misinterpreted" completely, resulting in a "controversy where it does not exist".
Reacting to the controversy, Ms. Sitharaman said, "Clearly this is done with an intention to appease a particular section. It is part of the Congress vote bank politics. It is part of the Congress strategy before elections."
'Hindu nationalist' is an oxymoron: Khurshid
Reacting to Modi's controversial remarks during an interview in which he said that had done "absolutely the right thing" during the 2002 riots and described himself as a "Hindu nationalist", Mr. Khurshid said, "Religion can't have nation.Religion has no identity. Nation has an identity. Nationalism falls in a different category than religion."
On Mr. Modi's remarks on riots that even if a "puppy comes under the wheels" of a car, one felt sad, Mr. Khurshid said "what is important is what do you think of your driver and what action you have taken and whether you have taken the responsibility".
Keywords: Narendra Modi, Modi Hindu nationalist remark, Godhra carnage, post-Godhra riots, 2002 Gujarat riots, Sabarmati Express fire, BJP
No comments:
Post a Comment