This refers to the report "A step forward, a step back for Modi" (December 27). The Ahmedabad court's clean chit to Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gulberg Society case is a big jolt to all who alleged Modi's involvement in the massacre of Muslims in the post-Godhra Gujarat riots. The verdict must have shattered the hopes of the Congress and all Modi's adversaries of his prosecution in the case. People were still arguing on news channels of Modi's culpability in the riots and said it was not an end to the matter; the verdict is challengeable in the higher courts. Incidentally, the same day, the Centre took a decision to set up a commission of inquiry into the Gujarat Police's surveillance on a young woman in 2009 and fixing a time-limit of three months to submit its report. With the 2014 general elections just four months away, the Centre's decision is justifiably seen as a conspiracy against Narendra Modi. The message going around is the Congress, unable to fight Modi politically and scared of his popularity, is misusing its executive authority to get the the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate and Rahul Gandhi's strong contender implicated in a criminal case and disqualified. The Commission of inquiry is something like a self-goal by the Congress.
M C Joshi Lucknow
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