Modi is not 'god' and must not think he is above the law: Sibal

Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday warned BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi not to think of himself as god, and as a person who was above the law.

Responding to BJP claims that the Gujarat Police had given Modi a clean chit insofar as the incident of him flashing the party symbol and addressing the media immediately after voting in Ahmedabad on April 30, Sibal said: "I don't think the Gujarat Police has given a clean chit to anyone. All that the Gujarat Police has said is that according to them he was not a hundred metres away. He was more than 100 metres away from the polling booth."

"The complaint of the Election Commission has nothing to do with how far he was from the polling both. I am really surprised that if any ordinary person were to commit such a violation of the code of conduct, there will be no editorials written on it, there will be no big statements by big leaders, so ordinary persons are under the law. But big leaders are not under obligation to not to violate the law. So, it applies to ordinary people like us, and not to Modi, is he a god?" Sibal asked further.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Thursday started investigating the case against Modi for violating the model code of conduct on Wednesday after Modi cast his vote in the Ranip area of Ahmedabad District.

The Election Commission had ordered the Gujarat Government and the Gujarat Police to register a case against Modi for violation of Section 126 (1)(a) and 126 (1)(b) of the Representation of the Peoples' Act 1951 and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.