The Hindu : National : I did not justify killing, says Modi

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Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
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I did not justify killing, says Modi

Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has denied the charge of creating mutual hatred and communal tension and blamed the media for the ‘wrong reports’ which created the controversy.

Replying on Saturday to the notice issued to him by the Election Commission of India over his remarks on the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case as reported in a section of the newspapers, Mr. Modi denied that he had ever justified the extra-judicial killing of Sohrabuddin or had given a confessional statement about the killing.

He claimed that the line that created furore in the country and attributed to him was a “figment of imagination” of the mediaperson concerned.

Reply posted on website

Mr. Modi’s reply, which was put on the State BJP’s website, was faxed to Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami.

The CEC had given Mr. Modi time till Saturday evening to reply to the notice issued on the basis of some complaints made to the commission over his reported remarks at an election meeting in south Gujarat. A newspaper report quoted him as having said that “Sohrabuddin got what he deserved” and that he virtually confessed his guilt in the fake encounter.

Requesting the Election Commission to withdraw the notice against him issued on the basis of “unverified and false reports in newspapers,” Mr. Modi said he believed in the rule of law and had not said anything that could go against the rule of law. But he also brought to the CEC’s notice the statements made by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, calling him a “merchant of death,” and the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, making reference to “Hindu terrorism.”

Mr. Modi said free and fair elections should mean a certain element of freedom of speech to discuss political issues openly and said the CEC should not adopt different yardsticks for him and the Congress leaders on the model code of conduct. He said the State unit of the BJP had send written complaints against Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Singh, but no action had so far been taken against them. He hoped that the Commission would now proceed to take action against those Congress leaders who issued such statements.

About the Sohrabuddin episode, Mr. Modi said: “I am in receipt of your notice dated December 6, 2007, wherein on the basis of the media reports and a complaint dated December 5, 2007, filed by Teesta Setalvad, I am alleged to have made an open exhortation to violence and misused religion for political ends.

“The Election Commission has further stated that by linking the name of Sohrabuddin to terrorism in my speech amounts to indulging in activity, which may aggravate existing differences, creating mutual hatred and causing tension between different communities. I deny this charge in its entirety.”

About the newspaper report, he said, “The last sentence of the report of the Times of India has generated controversy in the whole nation. Television channels and newspapers have made comments to the effect that I have stated that ‘Sohrabuddin got what he deserved,’ or that ‘it is a confessional statement by me’ or that ‘Modi has justified a murder.’ All other newspaper cuttings, which the Commission has taken into account, are dated December 6, 2007, which do not report my speech delivered on December 4, 2007, but are comments inspired by false imputation in the Times of India. This last sentence is not reflected in the CD as having been used by me,” he said in his reply.

He also charged that the Hindustan Times had put out an identical report on December 6 quoting him as saying that Sohrabuddin got what he deserved. But he had not said anything like that in his speech.

“I have since received the copy of the CD on the evening of December 7, 2007 at 5.45 p.m. I find none of the above statements are contained in my speech as recorded in the CD. The EC notice is issued on the basis of unverified and false media reports,” he said.

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