Faulting CBI’s stand that Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist as claimed by the Intelligence Bureau, BJP on Monday accused the Congress of resorting to implicate Narendra Modi in the fake encounter case using the agency, as it is "baffled and rattled" by the Gujarat chief minister’s rise in the national stage.
BJP Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said the Congress-led government was "defaming" IB using another agency to settle scores with an opposition party. One of those killed in the encounter is now described as an informer of IB and this is baffling, he said, attacking the Congress for "notoriously misusing, abusing” the CBI to harass opponents to keep them on tenterhooks.
"This government is surviving courtesy to CBI. It is the same old story. It has withdrawn cases against Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Who registered the cases against them and why this change of heart now? At the end of its tenure, they are repaying these parties for the support they gave to the government for the past five years," he told a press conference.
Naidu said people would see through Congress’ ploy.
The encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others, which is alleged to be fake, by Gujarat Police in 2004, has triggered demands for investigation against Modi and his right-hand man Amit Shah, who was the Minister of State for Home in Gujarat at the time of the incident. Gujarat Police had claimed that they had IB inputs suggesting that Ishrat and others were in Gujarat to kill Modi but the CBI has expressed doubts about the input generated by the senior intelligence officers.
Naidu said the Congress now knows the best way to fight BJP under Modi’s leadership: "use and misuse" CBI to implicate him and his colleagues. "They are now diverting attention from issues. They now say Ishrat Jahan is a 'mahan' (great person)...They do not have the courage to face Modi politically," he said.