Cong Snubs Modi, BJP Says CM’s Questioning No Embarrassment to Party

Snubbing Gujarat chief minister Narnedra Modi, Congress has said that his appearance before the SIT in connection with 2002 riots has brought ‘ill-repute’ the high office he holds even as the BJP rejects the suggestion that it’s an embarrassment for the party, said media reports.

“It is unprecedented that a person occupying a Constitutional position, that too of the Chief Minister, has been summoned for investigation in a case of mass murder,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari was quoted as saying.

“If the BJP has even an iota of morality, it should have asked him to step down before bringing such a high office to ill-repute,” he was quoted as saying.

Modi today appeared before SIT appointed by the Supreme Court to investigation Gujarat riots case and was interrogated for the first time on his alleged role in the riots.

Another Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, “In public perception, Modi has been held guilty. I don’t think he has done anything extraordinary by appearing before the Special Investigation Team probing the Gujarat riots. He should be brought to justice.”

In the meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman denied suggestions that Modi’s deposition before the SIT was an embarrassment for the party, said reports.

“I dont think it is any embarrassment to the party. The Chief Minister had said in the Gujarat Assembly and also in the public letter last week that nobody was above the law and that also included the Chief Minister of the state,” she was quoted as saying.

She said that no FIR was lodged against Modi, said reports.

Teesta Setalvad, social activist and known Modi-baiter, described Modi’s interrogation by SIT as a ‘significant development’, said reports.

“It is a very significant step that a sitting Chief Minister is actually forced to answer very hard questions regarding his role in the 2002 riots,” she was quoted as saying.

According to Setalvad, the development is important, for it sends out a message that nobody is above law with the Supreme Court watching, reports said.

She expressed hope that Modi’s questioning could lead to an FIR being lodged against him.

“We have full faith that with the Supreme Court’s eagle eye on the case, justice will be done,” she was quoted as saying.

(Based on internet reports)