Jaitley lashes out at Lalu on Godhra issue

The BJP today flayed Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for announcing to accord the status of a full-fledged commission to the Justice UC Banerjee Committee probing the Godhra incident saying law and order was a state subject.

Engaging a commission or a committee to probe a crime amounts to "unnecessary interference in judiciary and against the constitutional rights of a state," BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley told a press conference here.

"It is not the duty of the railway ministry to investigate a crime. Law and order is a state subject and no commission or committee will be legally and constitutionally valid to investigate such a case," he said.

Prasad had promised to accord the status of a full-fledged commission to the UC Banerjee Committee arming it with necessary legal teeth to summon and issue non-bailable arrest warrant against all those who fail to comply with its summons.

The BJP had already expressed its view against the setting up of such a committee, Jaitley said and alleged that even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had "not maintained silence but has sided with the railway minister giving a go-ahead to the constitution of such an unconstitutional committee headed by Justice UC Banerjee."

Dubbing the interim report of the Banerjee committee on the Godhra train blaze as "a disgraceful document," Jaitley claimed that the Gujarat police probing the case had stumbled upon the vital documents highlighting well-planned conspiracy hatched at a guest house, and the purchase and transportation of petrol to Godhra railway station to commit the crime.

"Even chargesheets have been filed in the incident and the Supreme Court has rejected the bail of some of the accused," he said.

"According to the law, it is the judiciary and not a committee with a political bias which will decide who is guilty and who is innocent. The interim report is a document aimed at helping and shielding the culprits," Jaitley added.

He accused the RJD chief of making a bid for social polarisation on the basis of the Godhra report during the campaign for the Assembly polls in Bihar.

"Anti-RJD votes are more than the pro-RJD votes in Bihar and the NDA is the lone alternative capable of freeing the state from anarchy and all pervasive corruption of the RJD misrule," the BJP leader said.