Modi ji didn't do drama... didn't ask ministers to sit on dharna: Shah on Godhra probe

In 2002 a coach of the Sabarmati Express returning with passengers from the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya was set ablaze near the Godhra railway station

Speaking to news agency ANI on the 2002 Gujarat riots, Home Minister Amit Shah backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then the CM of Gujarat, and said that when a Special Investigation Team probed the riots, PM Modi cooperated and "didn't do drama." In an apparent dig at Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said that Modi withstood a long battle, "bearing all pain like Lord Shiva" and didn't ask ministers to sit on dharna.

The Congress has been holding nationwide protests against the ED probe of Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

"A tall leader fought this 18-19-year-long fight without saying a word and braving all pain like 'vishpaan' of Lord Shankar...I saw him suffering through this very closely. Only a strong-willed person could've taken stand to not say anything as case was sub-judice," Shah said.

On February 27, 2002 a coach of the Sabarmati Express returning with passengers from the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya was set ablaze near the Godhra railway station by an angry mob, triggering one of the worst riots the country witnessed.

"Modi ji didn't do drama while appearing before SIT - come out in my support, call MLAs-MPs & stage dharna...If SIT wants to question CM,he himself is ready to cooperate. Why protest?"

Shah also dismissed the criticism against state police and officials saying that the allegations against them were politically motivated.

"Troika of BJP's political rivals,ideologically driven politically motivated journalists and some NGOs publicised the allegations. They had a strong ecosystem so everyone started believing lies to be truth."

"I read the judgement hurriedly but it clearly mentions Teesta Setalvad's name. She had an NGO that gave such applications involving BJP workers, at all Police Stations.There was so much pressure by media that all applications were treated as truth," Shah told ANI.

"...Court said in judgement that riots after burning of train (Godhra) weren't pre-planned but self-motivated. It dismissed Tehelka's sting operation because when the footage before and after it came to light, it was found that the sting operation was politically motivated," he added.

However, he also said that the Godhra situation spiralled beyond control, so much so that "it wasn't in anyone's hands"

"Officials did a good job but there was anger due to the incident and nobody had an inkling - neither the Police, not anyone else. Later it wasn't in anyone's hands," the Home Minister said.

"Modi ji set an example, showing how Constitution can be honoured. He was questioned but nobody staged dharna and workers didn't come to stand in solidarity with him...If those who levelled allegations have a conscience, they should apologise," he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the SIT's clean chit to the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots in the state, saying there is no “tittle of material” to show the violence after the Godhra train carnage was “pre-planned" owing to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched at the "highest level" in the state.

Observing that inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the administration cannot be the basis to readily infer a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities or to term it as a state-sponsored crime against the minority community, the court dismissed a plea by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia, terming it as "devoid of merits".

Bringing the curtains down on the bid to reopen the probe into the 2002 riots, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar also spoke of “the devious stratagem to keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design”, and said disgruntled officers of the Gujarat government need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law for creating a sensation by making false revelations.