Clean chit to Modi in 2002 riots premature: Rahul

March 17, 2014

New Delhi, Mar 17: Hitting out at Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today demanded "legal accountability" for the "clear and inexcusable failure" of governance during the 2002 Gujarat riots and dismissed talk of clean chit to him as "politically expedient" but "far too premature".

Contending that Modi was answerable on moral grounds, the Congress' chief campaigner said, "beyond that there should be a legal accountability for the clear and inexcusable failure of governance under him".rahul_upa

Gandhi was answering a question during an interview on BJP's contention that Modi had been given a clean chit by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT and the courts and, therefore, he had nothing to answer for or apologise for about the post-Godhra riots.

He replied, "As you know, the SIT report had been seriously questioned by a number of credible experts. Grave flaws have been pointed out in the functioning of the SIT. The acceptance of the flawed SIT report by the lowest court has not yet been subjected to judicial scrutiny by higher courts.

"The specific allegation and evidence pointing to Mr Modi's responsibility in the 2002 riots are yet to be adequately probed. Any talk of his having been given a clean chit may be politically expedient, but is far too premature. There are many unanswered questions. There is a lot more the country needs to know," he said.

Gandhi did not see Lok Sabha elections as virtually a presidential-style contest between him and Modi and said, "it is a clash between two ideas of India."

He contended that the Congress represented an idea which "respects the liberty and dignity of everyone of our countrymen by upholding the ideals of humanity and inclusion", whereas the BJP wanted an India "in which there is no place for the poor, no place for those with a different religion or ideology.

The Congress leader said that the BJP seeks to "suppress large numbers of India's ideas" and wanted "an India in which power is centralised in the hands of individuals. It is a clash between these two ideas of India."

The Gandhi-scion added, "The ideas that Mr Modi represents are dangerous for India."

To a question that people appeared to be disappointed with the lacklustre performance of the UPA government and favoured a strong leader like Modi, he said, "yes, I believe that India needs a 'strong' leader but we must have a deeper understanding of what 'strength' means.

"Strength to me, is not brute force or the ability to bulldoze your way through decision making in an autocratic manner... I do believe that an autocratic mindset that believes in dispensing with whatever is inconvenient to its notions is dangerous because such people tend to disregard what is right for what is expedient."

Asked about Modi's campaign and his language such as him being called a "shezada" (prince), Gandhi said that as far as the language used by political leaders were concerned "it is for the people of the country to judge a politician's language and choice of words".

Lashing out at BJP for its record in dealing with corruption, the Congress leader said that BJP had a Karnataka Chief Minister who went to jail on charges of corruption. Convicted and charge-sheeted ministers continued to be in the Gujarat cabinet.

"Their (BJP's) national president was seen taking money and was convicted. The record of the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh governments on corruption is well known. The money and landscams in Karnataka, absence of a functional Lokayukta in Gujarat for over 10 years, the recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh, and the allotment of land to industry in a completely non-transparent manner--the record is there for all to see," he said.

Asked if he had any radical ideas to eradicate corruption, the Congress leader said that the way to do that was to speed up the judicial process and punish the guilty. Only by creating an institutional framework to fight corruption can the issue be tackled.

He said that Lokpal Bill and The Whistleblowers Protection Bill had been passed and there were 5 remaining legislations that would have completed this framework.

"Since the BJP took the lead in preventing their passage, I would like to ask them to explain their double speak. They manage to lament corruption and at the same time oppose bills that will fight it," Gandhi said.

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May 21,2020

Srinagar, May 21: Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and their weapons snatched by militants in the Pandach area on the outskirts of Srinagar yesterday.

According to IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, the two BSF jawans, who were on road surveillance deployment, were fired upon by two of the three terrorists on a motorcycle around 5:15 pm on the 90-Ft Road at Pandach, near Soura. 

They were critically injured and later succumbed to injuries. The terrorists escaped after taking away one AK rifle and one INSAS. Efforts were underway to trace the terrorists.

He said that two jawans, Constable Rana Mandol and Constable Ziaul Haque of ‘C’ company of 37th battalion, were injured and they later succumbed.

“The terrorists managed to take away the weapons of the martyrs. Area has been cordoned off and the search for the terrorists is on”, he said.

Residents around the spot said that the two soldiers were buying chicken for Iftar from a mutton dealer, around 300 meters away from their deployment location when three militants on a motorcycle stopped and opened fire on them.

Medical Superintendent SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan said that both the jawans were brought dead to the tertiary care hospital.

Senior Police officials said it was a “clear case of security lapse” as the two jawans had left their spot of deployment on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road and gone to a shop 500 metres away on a different road.

They said that possibility of terror attacks and subsequently claims by the new outfit TRF had been flashed to all forces earlier this week.

The terror strike in the capital city has occurred a day after an encounter in downtown Srinagar, where two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including the top wanted Junaid Sehrai, had been killed on Tuesday.

In the last one month, five Army and Police personnel and two militants had got killed in an encounter in Handwara area of Kupwara, a day before three CRPF men were killed in another attack.

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January 31,2020

Jan 31: Twenty-three children aged between six months and 15 years, who had been taken hostage by a murder accused after inviting them to his daughter's birthday party, were rescued late on Thursday night after police killed their captor in a village here.

The hostage drama began at Kasaria village in the afternoon and continued for about eight hours.

"The accused was killed and there were about 23 children who were rescued safely," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters at a hurriedly called press conference at 1.20 am.

"The accused had invited the children for the birthday party of his daughter and held them hostage. It started about 5.45 pm on January 30 and continued for about eight hours," Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh said, adding that in the entire operation they had tried to "engage" the accused and were successful.

He said the accused, identified as Subhash Batham, had initially released a six-month-old girl by handing her over to his neighbour from a balcony.

Eyewitnesses said a restive crowd gathered outside the house where the children were kept with some women wailing and praying for their safe release.

The crowd broke open the door of the house to rescue the children, they said.

As the accused opened fire, the police retaliated killing him on the spot.

In the exchange of fire, the captor's wife was injured, but none of the children suffered any injury.

A man and two policemen also suffered bullet injuries.

The motive of the accused was not known immediately.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath monitored the situation in Farrukhabad, which is nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow.

"The CM as soon as he got to know about the incident called a meeting of the crisis management group and personally monitored the situation and ensured children are rescued safely," Awasthi said.

Earlier, a team of NSG (National Security Guard) commandos had taken a special aircraft to reach Farukhabad, a senior security official in Delhi said.

Police said Batham, a murder accused, seemed to be mentally unstable.

Inspector-General of Police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal, said, "The man called the children for a birthday party and held them hostage in the basement of the house. He fired six shots from inside the building."

Batham initially wanted to talk to the local MLA, but refused to speak to the leader when he arrived, Agarwal said.

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January 18,2020

Jan 18: Days after the arrest of Deputy SP Davinder Singh along with two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, Shiv Sena on Saturday questioned the role of police in the Kashmir Valley.

"Cross border infiltration is ongoing in Kashmir. But the police machinery is being used to help the terrorists in Kashmir to safely cross the border (to Pakistan) and a President's medal awarded Deputy SP was arrested for doing so. In Kashmir (it seems), the government is using the police for some other purposes, what will the country's Home Ministry say if somebody has a doubt in connection with the Pulwama attacks," Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, read.

This was in reference to the incident in which Jammu and Kashmir police intercepted a vehicle on Sunday and arrested DySP Davinder Singh along with two top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, who were travelling together.

The Sena mouthpiece asserted that the impact and acceptance of the Centre removing Article 370 should be visible "through the people" during the upcoming Republic Day celebrations.

"Jammu and Kashmir is now a Union Territory. It is being ruled by the Centre through President's Rule. The government had removed Article 370 in a historic decision...The joy and excitement in the people over the removal of 370 should be visible in the Republic Day celebrations this time. The tricolour should be seen flying over all houses in Kashmir, it is the least that can be expected," it added.

The Sena mouthpiece further said that with the arrest of terrorists in the recent days, it hoped that "Republic Day will be celebrated safely in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir".

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