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Congress debunks BJP charge linking party chief Sonia Gandhi with activist Teesta over 2002 Gujarat riots

Congress Working Committee member and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the allegations are wholly "bogus and baseless", reports Amit Agnihotri.

Congress debunks BJP charge linking party chief Sonia Gandhi with activist Teesta over 2002 Gujarat riots
Congress debunks BJP charge linking party chief Sonia Gandhi with activist Teesta over 2002 Gujarat riots
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Published : Jun 26, 2022, 2:48 PM IST

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday debunked the BJP’s charges linking activist Teesta Setalvad with party chief Sonia Gandhi over the 2002 Gujarat riots and said such allegations were in contempt of the Supreme Court order.

“The BJP spokespersons are alleging that Teesta Setalvad acted at the behest of party chief Sonia Gandhi. These allegations are wholly bogus and baseless. The Congress party condemns these allegations most forcefully. These allegations are in direct contempt of the Supreme Court’s order,” Congress Working Committee member and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

According to the Congress leader, the top court’s recent orders over the “conspiracy angle and the role of certain police officers” in the 2002 Gujarat riots should never be politicised as was being done by the BJP supporters who were suggesting that the then state government was “great.” “The SC did not say ‘Tussi great ho”. The top court simply upheld the Special Investigation Team which found no conspiracy and that the violence was a spontaneous reaction. Reading political ‘jumlas’ and unconnected clean chits into the SC order is misleading,” said Singhvi.

The senior advocate further cautioned, saying “don’t forget that many were convicted of murder post Godhra (train bogey burning incident) in Gujarat riots. Individual culpability was established. The top court only ruled out conspiracy or statements by the PM (then CM) in presence of certain police officers found to be absent. That must be respected as an apex court order. No more no less,” he said.

Also read: Truth has won, Modi has emerged victorious: Amit Shah on 2002 Gujarat riots verdict

Citing para 88 of the top court’s recent order, the Congress leader further said, “clearly four police officers who gave false evidence and their presence not being established; one of the victims Zakia family widow who pursued the case relentlessly and other disgruntled government officers, it cannot and should not be expanded to political sphere generally.”

The Congress reaction came a day after the BJP cited the top court order referring to activist Teesta and alleged that the Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi was the “driving force” behind Setalvad’s campaign against then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters that the Supreme Court named Setalvad while slamming those responsible for keeping the "pot boiling" for their ulterior designs on the riots. The court said that all those involved in the abuse of process need to be punished, Patra said.

The BJP attack on Setalvad came after she was detained by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Mumbai and taken to Ahmedabad in connection with a First Information Report, or FIR, filed against her at the Ahmedabad city crime branch. In its order on Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging a report by the SIT looking into 2002 post-Godhra riots cases that found no evidence against PM Modi when he was heading the state as chief minister.

Setalvad's NGO had supported Zakia Jafri, who had filed the petition alleging a larger conspiracy behind the riots, throughout her legal battle. Jafri's husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed in the riots.

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