Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Scoffing at Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday described the blog written by the Gujarat Chief Minister “an exercise in hypocrisy to say the least”.
Tewari dismissed Modi`s blog as “just an attempt to try and burnish his image for 2014 polls”.
“No expression of remorse changes the reality that thousands of people were massacred,” a news channel quoted Tewari as saying.
"But this (the riots) is not going to fly because nothing changes the reality that happened in 2002," Tewari said.
"Let`s not take away from the fact that it all happened on his watch. Isn`t he vicariously responsible if not directly responsible?" he added.
"It is an exercise in sanctimoniousness. It is completely hypocritical and absolute hum bug to say the least. If it takes 12 years to come out with such convoluted half-baked explanations, it obviously goes on to show that you do not believe in the core idea of India, its intrinsic values which constitutes liberalism," Tewari said.
Continuing with his attack, Tewari further said, "Why was it that the then Prime Minister was constrained to remind the Chief Minister about his Raj Dharma."
Earlier in the day, the BJP`s prime ministerial candidate, in his blog, described in detail his reactions to the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 that claimed more than 1,000 lives, most of them Muslims.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal dismissed Modi`s blog as a “drama”. “Even after 12 years, he has only regretted and not apologised. It`s all a drama, we have seen many such dramas.”
Samajwadi Party leader Kamal Farooqui termed Modi`s blog as a "political move" and said they did not expect any justice from the lower court in Gujarat as Modi had "demolished" the entire judicial system there.
"We were not hopeful of getting any justice," he said, adding Zakia Jafri has several options to explore following the court`s ruling.
Modi wrote that the violence left him "shaken to the core".
“`Grief`, `Sadness`, `Misery`, `Pain`, `Anguish`, `Agony` - mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity.”
