By IANS
New Delhi : After repeated flip-flops over Sonia Gandhi’s ‘merchants of death’ remark, the Congress Tuesday gave its explanation to the Election Commission, apparently claiming that the party president was referring to the “failure of the state administration” in Gujarat.
According to party sources, the response prepared by the legal experts in the Congress party claimed that Gandhi was not specifically referring to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“If you see the Hindi version of the speech, Gandhi has said ‘merchants of death’. She was referring to the state functionaries and Modi is included in it as he is the administrative head there,” said a Congress leader who did not want to be identified.
The Election Commission has issued a notice to Gandhi for the remark made at an election rally in Gujarat’s Navsari town Dec 1.
In its response to the poll panel, the Congress has apparently clarified that Gandhi’s remark was not meant to undermine anyone or settle political score with any individual. It added that her speech was a reflection of the voices of those suppressed and harassed by the attitude of the state functionaries.
The party separately responded to another poll panel notice issued to senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh over his remark about “Hindu terrorism” in Gujarat.
“Both clarifications have been submitted to the Election Commission,” said Tom Vadakkan, a Congress secretary. He said the details would be given later.
Congress leaders have done several U-turns on Gandhi’s controversial remark.
On Friday, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said the remarks were not aimed at Modi, only at state functionaries. But on Saturday, party spokesperson Abishek Singhvi asserted that it was meant only for Modi.
However, Singhvi, who was also part of the legal team, later retracted his earlier position and agreed with Sibal.
On Monday, party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed also claimed that the party president was referring to “the political failure of the Gujarat administration”.