)
On Wednesday, while Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi continued to be unapologetic about the 2002 Gujarat riots and his responsibility to control those, the Congress leadership’s attack on him for his “sins of omission and commission in discriminating against minorities” became more intense.
“This is the most polarised election,” remarked a serving chief minister, as the Congress party said Indian minorities would not be safe if Modi was elected. Modi, on his part, said the Congress, before attacking others, needed to explain its own record of appeasing the minorities and feeding communal tension.
In two interviews — with the TV9 channel and news agency ANI — Modi was absolutely clear he regretted nothing and did not need to explain anything.
Against the backdrop of actor Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, launching Modi’s Urdu website, saying he was doing so because of his family’s respect for Modi, the Gujarat CM told ANI: “I answered every top journalist in the country from 2002 to 2007 (on the riots) but noticed there was no exercise to understand the truth.” He added he believed unknown entities hatched a number of conspiracies linking him to the tragedy.
On being prodded further on his role in the riots, Modi said: “I have said what I had to. Now, I am in the people’s court and I am waiting to hear from them... their verdict.” He maintained he was committed to democracy and added, “if the media had not worked to malign Modi, who would know about Modi today?”
Apparently affected by the outbreak of dissidence, amid charges that BJP was becoming a one-man party, Modi used these interviews to deny this claim. “There is no Modi wave; it’s BJP’s wave this time,” he said, expressing his views on party senior Murli Manohar Joshi’s earlier comments.
The Congress, meanwhile, sharpened its attack on Modi. Top leaders said it was now a fight of democracy versus dictatorship in India.
“Please find out how many sittings of the Gujarat Assembly Modi has held. The minimum number of days an Assembly has to be in session is 21. The Gujarat Assembly has never exceeded that,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
“He holds a score of portfolios himself, his ministers show little or no initiative and he works like Hitler, who also seized power through democratic process,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said while talking to Business Standard.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi, campaigning in Telangana and Amethi, respectively, raised the democracy-and-pluralism-in-danger theme in their speeches.
The agenda was no longer what the Congress had done for the aam aadmi, development and progress — that was left to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. The mother-daughter duo said India would see a fight for survival of its democracy if Modi came to power.
MODISPEAK
On Ram Mandir
“BJP manifesto clearly mentions party’s commitment on the issue”
Why he was contesting on two seats
“The nation has seen a PM for the last 10 years who fought from nowhere and no one asked him any questions (Dr Manmohan Singh is from the Rajya Sabha) about how you became PM without fighting from nowhere. In this nation, contesting from two places is not new. It has happened in past. It is my party’s decision”
On who will succeed him in Gujarat
“Narendra Modi can’t decide whom to make the chief minister. As per the party’s constitutional, working style and tradition this question is irrelevant. Party MLAs elect a leader and parliamentary board takes a decision on this. MLAs and parliamentary board take the best decision in a given situation”
When asked about individual-centric politics (vyaktivaad)
“Over the last 12-14 years, one person was targeted with bogus allegations in such a way that every event was associated with him. Wasn’t that vyaktivaad? The people who did it in last 12 years, who practiced politics of hate are paying now. I am against vyaktivad. The nation is so big that one can’t run it through vyaktivad”
This is not a Modi-centric election
“This election is for the future of India. Are we going to miss the 21st century? Aren’t we going back in time to the 18th century again? The young generation is not ready to wait any longer. The greatest strength of this election is hope. The greatest thing this election has done is to generate a new hope. There’s anger : people want to kick out these people(the present rulers), but the basic point of this election is creation of a new system with new hope”
