Congress today downplayed ally NCP's remarks that any court judgement on the post-Godhra riots should be respected even as it made it clear that the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the violence would always remain an issue for the party.
"The nation would have moved forward if there was genuine regret. Truth and reconciliation takes place when one feels genuine contrition and (makes a) genuine apology.
"The kind of apology he (Modi) expressed was inappropriate," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here.
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He was reacting to NCP leader Praful Patel's views that any judicial pronouncement on Modi's alleged involvement in the post-Godhra riots should be respected.
"NCP is an inseparable part (of UPA). They are an old ally. Their opinion can be a little different. Congress has a different view," Singhvi said.
Patel, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, had recently said, "We are in an era when we believe that the judicial system is the final recourse to getting justice... If the judicial system has given a pronouncement, we ought to respect it."
The above comments had come against the backdrop of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's allegations in a TV interview that Modi had abetted the 2002 riots in his state.
