By IANS,
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday said people “should feel proud of” Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for appearing before the Supreme Court-appointed probe panel investigating the 2002 Gujarat riots.
BJP spokesman Ramnath Kovind said that Modi was a law abiding chief minister and termed the criticism of him by opposition parties including the Congress as “absurd”.
“If he did not appear before the panel, then they would criticise. Now, for appearing before the panel, they are creating a hype. This is absurd,” Kovind told IANS.
Modi appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Gandhinagar Saturday for questioning following a complaint by Zakia Jaffri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri, who was killed in the riots. Zakia had alleged that Modi was party to the violence in the state eight years ago.
Kovind said the Congress had no moral right to criticise Modi or the BJP over the 2002 riots because the Congress-led government had failed to give justice to Sikhs who were “brutally massacred” in 1984.
“The main culprits in the anti-Sikh riots are top Congress leaders. People like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler were promoted as MPs and ministers. They are still trying to avoid the investigating agencies. Sikhs are still waiting for justice,” Kovind said.