Cautious Cong treads easy on modi link to Shah case

The Congress is treading cautiously on the issue of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s name cropping up during the CBI’s interrogation of former minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, apprehending that any move to attack the BJP leader might “backfire”.

The Congress is treading cautiously on the issue of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s name cropping up during the CBI’s interrogation of former minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, apprehending that any move to attack the BJP leader might “backfire”.

HT Image

“We want the law should take its own course. If we attack Modi now, it might backfire. One has to think twice before speaking against him as otherwise he might twist the situation to his advantage,” a senior party functionary said.

It fears the move could trigger violent protests in Gujarat and other BJP-ruled states. But at the same time the party doesn’t want to let go of the “political advantage”.

“We don’t want to give him the advantage.... The possibility of the CBI questioning Modi in the Sohrabuddin case is hanging like a sword of Damocles over him,” the leader said.

But the party also wants that the truth should come out “at all costs” and the guilty “whosoever it is” should be punished.

“India is not a banana republic. There should not be anarchy. Even the country’s first and biggest terrorist Nathuram Godse was given a fair trial and so was Ajmal Kasab.

Sohrabuddin too deserved a fair trial. He was in their custody and should have been interrogated to get vital information,” Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat BK Hariprasad said.

The government, however, chose not to comment on the issue. “The issue is distressing for any democracy. One should be extra cautious about what one does or says. It should be seen that we don't overstep the law of the land," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.