Modi's fast cannot wash away the horror of
Gujarat riots: Analyst
Sunday September 18, 2011 06:38:21 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi:
He may have prime ministerial ambitions but Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi's 2002 riots ghost will not leave him soon, say
political analysts and critics.
On Sunday, the second day of his three-day hunger strike aimed at
cementing communal relations in the state, criticism of Modi's
past record continued, both in and outside the state.
B.R.P. Bhaskar, a Kerala-based political analyst, thinks Modi's
fast has come too late and creates suspicion.
"He will have to prove the genuineness of his new proclamations as
he has already destroyed the social fabric of the state," Bhaskar
told IANS over telephone.
Modi, blamed for the biased handling of the 2002 Gujarat communal
riots, launched his 'sadbhavana' (goodwill) fast from a university
hall Saturday -- as he turned 61.
Mridula Mukherjee, a professor with Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru
University, calls the fast a "farce".
"The exercise is manipulative and the prayer for togetherness
mentioned in his 'sadbhavana' statement betrays his political
ambitions."
Mukherjee said scenes of Muslims wearing skull caps and in burqa
greeting Modi at the fast venue did not mean much.
"Nothing has changed on the ground in Gujarat - be it the
rightwing textbooks or the atmosphere of discrimination," she
added.
Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi spoke on similar lines.
He said "a mere fast cannot wash away (Modi's) tainted past,
packed with serious commissions and omissions".
"It will carry no conviction with any secular person in the
country," Alvi told IANS.
The BJP thinks differently.
"The past week vindicated Modi and the BJP on many fronts," BJP
spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS, referring to the
Supreme Court ordering a trial court to hear a case alleging the
chief minister's complicity in the Gulberg housing society
killings in 2002 - a move that was interpreted in completely
different ways by the party and its rivals.
But Sitharaman thinks "it's premature" to discuss the prime
ministerial candidature of Modi or to even link it with the fast.
She quoted a US Congressional Research Service report as praising
Modi's governance and achievements.
Bhaskar feels it is a hype that Modi will emerge at the national
level one day. "Even the US report admits he is popular only in
Gujarat."
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