Press Note Eng Dt: 28/01/2014
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Office of Shaktisinh Gohil
National Spokesperson, AICC
Press Note 28th January, 2014
Sharply reacting to the blog written by BJP leader Arun Jaitley on the interview of Rahul Gandhi, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said that a man speaking from a pure heart is better for society than the person shouting lies.
Bold man is not the one who evades questions, responds with arrogance or walks away in the midst of an interview, but the one who responds to all questions with simplicity, straightforwardness and gentleness.
2002 riots of Gujarat cannot be compared with 1984 Sikh riots or any other riots because 2002 riots were inspired by government. On the murder of Indira Gandhi, riots broke out instantly. Rajiv Gandhi moved round streets in the disturbed area to pacify people even as his mother’s dead body was lying in the house. While in the case of Gujarat riots Chief Minister did nothing to restore peace or wipe out tears of affected persons.
Nothing happened for full three days after the Godhra incident. During these three days Chief Minister, BJP and RSS spread venom and had a well organized conspiracy which led to large scale riots. Collector had decided to have post mortem of dead bodies and to hand them over to the relatives of the dead.
However, Chief Minister turned down the decision of the Collector and decided that all dead bodies be brought to Ahmedabad and taken to SolaHospital. Some officers were of the view that the show of dead bodies would cause tension, but it was ignored. And dead bodies were brought to the hospital and handed over to the Vishva Hindu Parishad instead of relatives of the persons who had died. This is in the report of the SIT set up by the Supreme Court.
Assembly session was on in those days. CM brought a resolution on the issue and the language he used was quite provocative. Police officers who took action to control the situation were sidelined on the recommendations of VHP, RSS and BJP and police officers who played role of spectator were posted in troubled areas.
One of such case was in Bhavnagar where DSP Rahul Sharma saved lives of 382 children of a Madrassa. Though, Rahul Sharma was posted only seven days before, he was shunted out. There was no reason for such an action.
While no attempt has been made to protect or promote those who were involved in Sikh riots, in Gujarat those who were named in complaint were promoted. For instance, Mayaben Kodnani was made a minister. By this CM showed his communal mindset and his agenda. CM took out Gujarat Gaurav Yatra in which he made highly provocative and divisive speeches. Mr. Jaitley should go through the CDs of these speeches.
After displeasure of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and observation of the Supreme Court “If you can’t protect your people, quit the post”, Chief Minister arranged to mellow disturbances which were created by him and started a new phase of fake encounters, which has come to the notice of all.
The role of the chairman of SC appointed SIT was doubtful from the beginning as he included police officers in his team who were facing charges of abetting riots. It was an attempt to fool the Supreme Court. The report of the SIT was not accepted by the SC which found the facts and conclusions contrary and it appointed Raju Ramchandran as Amicus Curiae. In his report, Raju Ramchandran was of view that charge sheet could be filed against CM and other accused and it required further investigations. This report was accepted by the SC and it sent this report and SIT report to the trial court.
SC has directed that Gujarat cases be tried outside Gujarat because there is no atmosphere of trust and credibility in Gujarat. In a situation when there is a judgment of trial court which has yet to be cleared by High Court and Supreme Court and Amicus Curiae of Supreme Court hold Gujarat Chief Minister responsible for riots, saying of Arun Jaitley that the Court had given him clean chit was to give a criminal mind client an argument without any base.
If the judgment of the trial court is final then why Babubhai Bokhiria who has been convicted is continuing as Minister? In this case, BJP says that matter is in appeal. These are dual standards. Similar is the case of another minister Purshottam Solanki who has been charged with a fraud of Rs 420 crore as the Supreme Court rejected his petition. He is still continuing as Minister. Number two Minister Anandiben Patel has been pulled up by Supreme Court in yet another case. The court passed severe strictures against her in a fraudulent land deal. She is very much Revenue Minister.
Much after the 1984 riots when everything had cooled down, Rajiv Gandhi had said that it was like tremors on falling of a huge tree. But here, immediately after the Godhra incident Chief Minister had said every action has reaction and people should be allowed to vent their anger and thus provoked the situation. And thus the pacifying words of Rajiv Gandhi can never be compared with provocative speeches of Modi.
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