Kapalvad/New Delhi, December 6
After his hardline talk sparked an outrage, Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi today said Congress president Sonia Gandhi provoked him to
rake up Hindutva during the poll campaign and asserted that “he was
and will be a law abiding citizen.”
Modi also said it was his democratic duty to tell the truth to people
and asserted that hostile reactions to his statements on Sohrabuddin
reeked of “pseudo secularism”.
“I will reply to whatever issues the Congress raises and will speak
in the same language and I have a right to defend himself,” Modi told
Times TV channel onboard his specially customised vehicle in the midst
of his campaign for the two-phase elections.
Modi said his poll agenda was only to raise developmental issues but
was compelled to play the Hindutva card when Sonia called him
“Merchant of death”.
The Chief Minister’s justification of the Sohrabuddin fake enconter
killing had provoked angry condemnations from the Left and the Congress
and social activists amid demands that Modi be booked for his
controversial utterances.
Modi said there was no issue about police encounters but what needed
to be debated is the issue of “fake police encounters.” “I do not
justify fake police encounters,” he added. Meanwhile, the BJP today
hit back at Sonia Gandhi for her comments against Modi, saying she has a
“hatred for Hindus” as she remained silent on “atrocities”
committed against the community.
The party said while Gandhi talks of the “merchants of death” in
Gujarat, she has neither apologised for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots nor
spoken about the plight of the five lakh Kashmiri Pandits who have been
uprooted from the valley.
“She has a hatred for Hindus. She speaks against Hindus and chooses
to remain silent when atrocities are committed against the community,”
BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, V.K. Malhotra, told reporters here. —
PTI
