By IANS
New Delhi : The Congress Friday denied that Sonia Gandhi had referred to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as “merchant of death” even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani urged the Congress president to desist from making statements provoking Modi.
Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, defending Sonia Gandhi, said at a press conference at his residence: “Nowhere did she name anyone as the merchant of death. She was merely referring to the state functionaries in Gujarat who were involved in fake encounters.”
“She said nothing wrong, she said what the state government has already admitted in the Supreme Court, nothing more nothing less,” said Sibal.
Advani, addressing newspersons after the conclusion of winter session of parliament, blamed Gandhi for provoking Modi into making a public statement justifying the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, for which his senior police officer D.G. Vanzara and others are facing trial.
Urging her to desist from making these remarks, he said: “Such remarks are not good for the person who makes it they are not good for the party and it is not good for democracy.”
Reminded that party leader and former state chief minister Keshubhai Patel had publicly called Modi ‘Hitler’, he said it did not amount to describing him as a merchant of death.
He said: “In India many politicians call anyone a Hitler when they perceive him as autocratic.”
Appealing to the media, the BJP leader said: “Don’t look at Narendra-bhai with a communal coloured glass, but from the point of view of terrorism,” adding that he felt the Election Commission should also take notice of Gandhi’s utterances.
Advani recalled that he had met Rahul Gandhi recently and said they should abjure political animosity. “When I spoke to Rahul I said the same thing. That we should not deal with each other in a spirit of political animosity but just as political opponents.”