A day after the Supreme Court upheld the clean chit to then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said a troika of BJP’s rivals, politically motivated journalists and NGOs made false allegations against the state dispensation in the aftermath of the riots.
In an interview to ANI, Shah said the people of Gujarat were not taken in by the “nexus”.
“The mandate of the people is the biggest thing, the public sees everything. The 130 crore people in the country have 260 crore eyes and 260 crore ears. They see and hear everything, we have never lost an election (in Gujarat). The public never accepted these allegations,” he said.
The apex court had on Friday upheld the SIT’s clean chit to the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots in the state, saying there is no tittle of material to show the violence after the Godhra train carnage was pre-planned” owing to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched at the “highest level” in the state.
Observing that inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the administration cannot be the basis to readily infer a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities or to term it as a state-sponsored crime against the minority community, the court dismissed a plea by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia, terming it as “devoid of merits”.
Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 68 people killed at Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society during the violence on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning that claimed 59 lives.
“BJP’s political rivals, politically motivated and ideology-driven journalists and some NGOs publicized the allegations. They had a strong ecosystem so everyone started believing the lies as truth,” Shah told ANI.
On Teesta Setalvad
In the interview, Amit Shah alleged that activist Teesta Setalvad’s NGO gave baseless information about the riots.
“I have read the judgment very carefully. It clearly mentions the name of Teesta Setalvad. The NGO that was run by her had given baseless information about the riots to the police.”
“Antecedents of Teesta Setalvad need to be reckoned with also because she has been vindictively persecuting this for her ulterior design by exploiting the emotions and sentiments of Zakia Jafri, the real victim of the circumstances,” Shah added.
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