By IANS,
New Delhi : Rubbishing the report of an inquiry panel on the Godhra train burning tragedy of 2002, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Thursday said Gujarat Chief Minister Modi was not innocent.
“We are examining the report of Nanavati Commission minutely. We will find out what law has to say about it,” said Lalu Prasad.
“No one will believe that Modi is innocent. He is a representative of the ‘communal virus’ and that’s why he has been disallowed to travel abroad,” he said, referring to the rejection of his visa application by the US earlier.
“Had he been punished for his crime, no youth would have turned terrorists today,” he told reporters here.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president was reacting to the Justice (retd) G.T. Nanavati-Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta panel’s report, which concluded that the Godhra tragedy was not an accident but was pre-planned.
“The Godhra incident was not a conspiracy. Almost all social organisations have also criticised Modi for the communal violence in Gujarat,” he said.
“Even then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had advised Modi to follow ‘rajdharma’ (duty of the ruler) in the aftermath of Godhra incident,” he said.
Lalu Prasad in September 2004 set up a probe committee headed by Justice (retd) U.C Banerjee who found that the tragedy was only an accident and there was no evidence of a conspiracy.
Asked to comment on two investigations, Lalu Prasad admitted it had created a “very confusing” situation as both reports were prepared by former judges.