Former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) media advisor Dr Jasim Mohammad on Friday refuted the claims made by former Army Deputy Chief, Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah about the Gujarat Government in connection with the 2002 riots, saying that the Congress were conspiring to gain an edge in the upcoming state and general elections.
In his upcoming book titled, The Sarkari Mussalman, Shah accused the then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government of a tardy response during the2002 riots in the state. Shah claimed that the support for the 3000 troops deployed to control the riots arrived on March 2, while the troops landed in Ahmadabad the day before, resulting in loss of time for managing the riots.
Reacting to the claims made by Shah, Jasim said, "On March 5, 2016, I got to know that Zameer Uddin Shah was deputed in Gujarat during the riots in 2002, when I took him to meet with the Prime Minister. But during that meet, Zameer Uddin Shah was praising Narendra Modi, saying that the riots stopped because of him. I think he is spreading lies, this not right,"
When asked about a possible motive behind Zameer Uddin lying in his book, Jasim said he believed that this was a case of a Congress conspiracy, hatched in order to gain an edge in the impending Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections.
"Narendra Modi has emerged as a World leader; these allegations will dent that image to an extent. But we don't know what actually happened. I think that Zameeruddin Shah is lying," Jasim said, adding that he should omit from the book the two-three pages which contain the lies.
Earlier, Jasim wrote a letter to former Vice-President Hamid Ansari, asking him to cancel the release of the book.
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