Modi ignored appeal to stop riots: Yechury

CPM leader and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury has alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had ignored his call for action to stop the 2002 riots.

CPM leader and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury has alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had ignored his call for action to stop the 2002 riots.

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Recalling his visit to Ahmedabad along with MPs Amar Singh, Shabana Azmi and Raj Babbar on March 1, 2002, when riots erupted in several locations in the city and the state, Yechury said the group had made a telephone call to Modi after witnessing the tense situation.

“I had conveyed our concern and appealed to Modi to put an end to the riots. But that appeal did not fall on receptive ears,” Yechury said on Tuesday speaking at a discussion on ‘Dangers of communal mobilisation and targeted violence’ organised by Communalism Combat and Sahmat.

“The full gravity of the situation in Gujarat during the riots is still not known,” Yechury added.

The meet discussed the protest petition against a Special Investigation Team’s clean chit to Modi filed before a local court in Ahmedabad on April 15 by Zakia Jafri, wife of Ehsaan Jafri who was killed in the Gulberg Society massacre.