New Delhi: BJP on Sunday demanded an apology
from the German government for "provocative" statements made
by its Parliamentary delegation which also reportedly said
Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi was described as a
"dictator".
"Describing Modi as a dictator is intolerable. Tarnishing
the image of a democratically elected Chief Minister by
visiting German officials is unacceptable," a BJP release
said.
The release, quoting Vijay Jolly, BJP, Joint Convener,
Foreign Cell, said the party has would hold a demonstration
outside the German mission here on April 12.
The delegation of German Parliamentarians, whose visit
was supported by 'Missio', a Christian Catholic Bishops
Agency, had gone to Gujarat, it said.
The lawmakers had raised an objection to the new
anti-conversion law of the state government saying it had made
conversions difficult, the release claimed.
It termed the act of the delegation as "unfriendly" and
said various BJP leaders would take part in the demonstration
and submit a protest memorandum to the German ambassador.
The delegation members, who had visited the state to
study the status of minorities, reportedly justified the
European Union's earlier decision of not granting visa to
Modi.
"The Chief Minister of Gujarat has a radical tone to his
politics and is described as dictatorial. He has a wrong
perception of religious freedom," members of Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) of the ruling coalition of Germany had
reportedly told the media during their visit to Ahmedabad on
April 8.
The next day Modi wrote a letter to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh demanding an apology from the delegation.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, April 11, 2010, 19:06