Shah also referred to his facing arrest in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which he was subsequently acquitted, and said no “dharna” was carried out
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday took a dig at the Congress ‘Satyagraha’ over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioning Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, saying Narendra Modi — as Gujarat chief minister — appeared before the SIT during the probe over the post-Godhra violence “but the BJP did not resort to drama or dharna during the questioning”.
In an interview with news agency ANI after the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jafri’s plea challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Modi and several others in the 2002 riots, Shah said: “In a democracy, PM Modi presented an ideal example of how the Constitution should be respected by all political persons. Modiji was also questioned, but nobody protested, and (BJP) workers from across the country did not gather in solidarity with Modiji. We cooperated with the law. I was also arrested. There was no protest or demonstration.”
Shah also referred to his facing arrest in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which he was subsequently acquitted, and said no “dharna” was carried out.
Slamming the decision of the Congress to hold countrywide protests, the minister said: “This is not the first clean chit to PM Modi. Nanavati Commission has also given a clean chit. Still the SIT was formed. And Modiji did not appear before the SIT doing drama… come in support from every village if not then call MLAs, MPs and ex-MPs, hold dharna.”
He added: “We believe that we should cooperate in the judicial process. There was a Supreme Court order, and an SIT was there. If the SIT wants to ask questions from the Chief Minister, he himself said that he is ready to cooperate. Why stage a protest? No person is beyond the law.”
Shah also said protests cannot be justified against a judicial process. “No protest is justified against any judicial process because our view is considered right when the judiciary says so. I was put behind bars. I used to say that I am innocent. But when the court said that a fake case was filed against me and there was a politically motivated conspiracy by the CBI to frame me, then my words proved right,” he said.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said on Friday that it found the appeal by Zakia Jafri was devoid of merit.
Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed during the violence at the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. Zakia Jafri challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi who was the Gujarat Chief Minister during the riots in the state.
