In what is being seen as a major political boost for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass any order on his alleged inaction during the 2002 riots in the state. The court instead
referred the matter to the magistrate concerned in Ahmedabad for a decision.
While an upbeat BJP welcomed the directive, Union law minister Salman Khurshid argued that the decision in “no way gives a clean chit to Modi”. Top lawyer Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said on the other hand that “propaganda and falsehood is never a substitute for evidence”.
Monday’s directive could now propel Mr Modi to play a bigger role within the BJP and in national politics. With Mr L.K. Advani losing his shine, a section in the party would want to project Mr Modi as the saffron face in the 2014 general election.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice D.K. Jain directed the Special Investigation Team, which it had been monitoring till now, to submit its final report before the magistrate, who was asked to decide whether to proceed against Mr Modi and 62 others, including senior government officials.
The bench, which also comprised Justices P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, said in case the magistrate decides to drop proceedings against Mr Modi and others, he has to hear the plea of slain MP Ehsan Jafri’s widow Zakia Jafri, who had filed a complaint against the Gujarat chief minister. The bench also made it clear there was no need for it to further monitor the riot cases.
The order was passed on the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, who alleged that Mr Modi and 62 top Gujarat government officials had deliberately refused to take action to contain the riots triggered by the Godhra train carnage on February 27, 2002. Ms Jafri had lost her husband, Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, in the Gulberg Housing Society massacre during the riots. She appealed that a proper investigation into the inaction of Mr Modi and government officials should be carried out by the SIT.
Mr Jaitley said the “BJP had always maintained that the allegations being made against Modi were false, and that there is not a shred of evidence”. The Supreme Court’s directive also comes at a time when Mr Advani plans to embark on another nationwide rathyatra to stake his claim as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general election in 2014.
“The Supreme Court directive could now bring Mr Modi to the centrestage of national politics. Also, he will get more votes for the BJP than any other top leader,” a BJP leader said.
The Union law minister, however, argued that the SIT report was still not in the public domain and “the Supreme Court has said the SIT must put its report before the magistrate. All this is still to happen, and the BJP is claiming they are in the clear and are acquitted”.