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Time to sack Modi and punish rioters |
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Written by Correspondent
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Tuesday, 30 November 1999 |
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 At last Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Pramod Mahajan has conceded that the Gujarat riots were a “black spot for any civilised society”. This has been the assessment of all right-thinking people all along. In a tactical move to contain the damage, party spokesman Arun Jaitley has asserted that what Mahajan has written in the latest issue of BJP Today only reflects the “party line” on the Gujarat riots. “Both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani have described the Godhra incident and its aftermath as extremely unfortunate. There is nothing in the article that is against the party line,” he says. If this is the view of the party, it should be taken to its logical conclusion by sacking Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. There is nothing that stops the BJP from erasing the “black spot” if there is such “unanimity” among the leadership. It is a known fact that Modi has proved himself to be a millstone round the party’s neck. As long as he is retained in power, the party will face a credibility crisis. Vast sections of voters belonging to both the majority and minority communities will have difficulty in reconciling themselves to a person like Modi ruling over Gujarat. This is because he is guilty not only of not taking action against the rioters but also of instigating them. If the party is sincere in its view on the Gujarat riots, it should take two steps to make it credible – drop the Chief Minister and ensure that the victims of the riots are rehabilitated and the perpetrators of the violence are given deterrent punishment. So long as these two do not happen, the article by Mahajan and the endorsement by Jaitley will make no sense.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 November 2009 )
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