GUJARAT Chief Minister Narendra Modi has reason to be relieved as an Ahmedabad court has demolished charges against him for his role in the communal riots of Ahmedabad in 2002. However, Modi is not fully in the clear. He cannot shed political responsibility for the horrendous happenings at that time as he was chief minister of the state. It is felt that he showed conspicuous inaction. That goes against his current much professed secularism. Minorities are still apprehensive and it will not be easy for Modi to allay their suspicions. To this have now been added snooping allegations. The BJP’s Prime Ministeral candidate finds himself in an uncomfortable position over that. Apparently, the state of Gujarat carried out an illegal and secret surveillance of a young woman in the state. Modi is alleged to have been behind it and his party president Rajnath Singh has admitted as much. The BJP’s explanation does not wash. A letter was produced to prove that the young woman’s father had asked for surveillance for her security. It was hardly convincing and inconceivable that Modi’s minister, Amit Shah had for that reason had that woman stalked officially encroaching on her privacy. If an individual could do that, there may have been parental requests galore.
The Centre’s move to set up its own commission to look into the allegation against the Modi government in Gujarat smacks of political motivation. It appears that the unauthorized physical and electronic trailing extends beyond Gujarat into other states. The Gujarat government has already set up a commission to investigate the matter. But that will be state vs state. However, the Centre would have done well to wait for the state commission’s report. Why a parallel probe at the same time? It would clash with the state enquiry during the run-up to the general election. The Centre has perhaps shown undue alacrity. It all looks like a pre-poll showdown between the UPA and the NDA.
