Rahul says clean chit to Modi in 2002 riots premature, BJP says Rahul appears like a nursery student

New Delhi, 16 March 2014

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s interviews make him appear like a nursery student.

“Rahul Gandhi’s interviews make him appear like a nursery student. All his interviews are based on lies. The Supreme Court saw the integrity of the investigation of Gujarat riots and still Rahul Gandhi does not believe in the court’s verdict,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“He is silent on the riots sponsored by Congress. They don’t have any answers on which the elections are going to fought upon stinking corruption, lack of growth, inflation etc. He is trying to divert people from all these,” he said.

“Rahul Gandhi and Congress don’t have an answer for the mess they have created,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi in an interview to PTI today demanded “legal accountability” for the “clear and inexcusable failure” of governance during the 2002 Gujarat riots and dismissed talk of clean chit to Modi as “politically expedient” but “far too premature”.

He also said that the BJP seeks to “suppress large numbers of India’s ideas” and wanted “an India in which power is centralised in the hands of individuals. It is a clash between these two ideas of India.”

On Rahul’s interview to PTI

Hitting out at Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today demanded “legal accountability” for the “clear and inexcusable failure” of governance during the 2002 Gujarat riots and dismissed talk of clean chit to him as “politically expedient” but “far too premature”.

Contending that Modi was answerable on moral grounds as Chief Minister, the Congress’ chief campaigner said, “beyond that there should be a legal accountability for the clear and inexcusable failure of governance under him”.

Gandhi was answering a question during an interview to PTI on BJP’s contention that Modi had been given a clean chit by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT and the courts and, therefore, he had nothing to answer for or apologise for about the post-Godhra riots. He replied, “As you know, the SIT report had been seriously questioned by a number of credible experts. Grave flaws have been pointed out in the functioning of the SIT. The acceptance of the flawed SIT report by the lowest court has not yet been subjected to judicial scrutiny by higher courts.

“The specific allegation and evidence pointing to Mr Modi’s responsibility in the 2002 riots are yet to be adequately probed. Any talk of his having been given a clean chit may be politically expedient, but is far too premature. There are many unanswered questions. There is a lot more the country needs to know,” he said.