Too little, too late, Sibal says of Modi blog

Congress leader and Union minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday termed the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi expressing pain and agony over the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, 11 years after the incident took place, as a political stunt ahead of the 2014 elections.

Congress leader and Union minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday termed the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi expressing pain and agony over the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, 11 years after the incident took place, as a political stunt ahead of the 2014 elections.

"Modi’s riots baggage will remain. It is too late for him to express that he was shaken to the core. Had that been so, the core would have reacted in time, not a belated reaction just before the Lok Sabha elections," Sibal wrote.

The "pain and agony" reflected in Modi’s blog is for an audience whose sympathy will be vital in May 2014, the telecom and law minister added.

According to Sibal, pain was a heartfelt and spontaneous emotion that was expressed without calculation.

"Pain can never be a belated reaction after 11 years of silence. And a person who suffers in silence cannot remain silent for 11 years. While I do not want to be cynical in my comments, I do not want to be dishonest either. This act of liberation does not connect us with the real Modi," he said.

Sibal also posed a series of questions, including where Modi’s pain was when his state government defended those responsible for riots.