THE development plank of the BJP has frightened the Congress. No agenda, no leader and the Congress has only abuse as its poll strategy. The Congress in Gujarat has in this desperate game dragged the EC, judiciary and an obliging media. For the Congress, a defeat in the state is a total loss of face. And Sonia Gandhi has resorted to her pet anti-Hindu theme to provoke Narendra Modi.
The Congress over the past six months tried every trick in the book to link Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the encounter killing of known terrorist Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Shri Modi finally broke his silence on the issue at public rallies in Mangrol and Godhra last week, stung at being labelled a ?merchant of death? by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Gujarat last week and by the direct accusation made by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh who alleged the state of fostering ?Hindu terrorists?. Shri Modi retorted that terrorists will have no place in Gujarat a fate that they deserved for the heinous crimes they commit.
Not surprisingly, the Congress has decided to create a ruckus over the issue and in its typical pseudo-secular fashion has ganged up with activists to file complaints with the Election Commission while other so-called secularists like Javed Akhtar have filed a petition with the Supreme Court to make the Gujarat CM a co-accused in the Sohrabuddin killing. While desperate moves like these are along expected lines, what is raising eyebrows is the fact that they are being made by the same Congress party and its sympathisers which have a dubious track record of being unable to bring to book the master minds of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and lately terrorists like Afzal Guru who tried to demolish the foundations of Indian democracy by attacking the Parliament building at a time when almost all top leaders were present.
It'sthe same Congress party which today is trying to tarnish Shri Modi with a communal brush for an encounter killing of a dangerous terrorist with a proven track record. Funnily enough, even those with the Congress party in Gujarat in private concede that there was nothing communal in Modi'saddresses at Mangrol and Godhra. In fact, on condition of anonymity, one of these leaders even confessed that the Congress may well have lost the election in Gujarat even before it is fought by bringing up the communal issue first and trying to provoke the Chief Minister.
Interestingly, there'snothing even remotely wrong in Modi'sutterances. Even renowned political writer and British MP Meghnad Desai, a Gujarati himself, has endorsed this in an interview to one of the leading English channels. ?What Modiji said in his address was that he was proud that a terrorist like Sohrabuddin had been exterminated on the soil of Gujarat,? said a senior BJP leader. ?What'swrong with that?? he asked.
In an interview to a TV channel following the notice against him by the EC, Shri Modi clarified that encounter killing was an accepted policy of exterminating anti-national elements followed in all parts of the country. However, what was not acceptable was fake encounter killings which he too was strictly against. ?We are fighting the case to show that he was killed in an encounter and not a fake encounter killing,? he said.
The Gujarat CM further went on to say that he had never classified Sohrabuddin as a Muslim terrorist. ?I fail to understand why all anti-social activities and terrorism is linked to the minorities. People should talk about a terrorist and his act, not about his clan or religion,? he added. ?His religion is a matter which has been raked up by the Congress party to win minority votes. What is worse, in a bid to woo the Muslims, Digvijay Singh has coined a new phrase of Hindu terrorist which he has used to label the entire Hindu population of Gujarat,? said a BJP party worker. There is an apprehension that given the communal colour which has been given to Shri Modi'sutterances, the SC too may pass an interim order against him on the grounds of inciting communal passions.
However, according to political analysts, this is likely to consolidate the BJP'sposition even further in the forthcoming elections. ?If Modiji is victimised for protecting the dignity of Gujarat, then he?ll only emerge as a martyr for the Gujarati cause in the eyes of the people who will ensure his victory against all odds,? said a Modi-loyalist. Religion is a matter which has been raked up by the Congress party to win minority votes. What is worse, in a bid to woo the Muslims, Digvijay Singh has coined a new phrase of Hindu terrorist which he has used to label the entire Hindu population of Gujarat.
One of these leaders even confessed that the Congress may well have lost the election in Gujarat even before it is fought by bringing up the communal issue first and trying to provoke the Chief Minister.
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