Congress ups the ante against Modi over snooping allegation; BJP rules out rethink on PM candidate
New Delhi: Targeting Narendra Modi and BJP over alleged snooping on a young woman in 2009, Congress on Saturday said it was 'brazen assault on civil liberty by state-sponsored stalking' after the 'Gujarat pogrom' and 'fake' encounters.
Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari alleged that it reflected the kind of State the BJP wanted to make and asked if this was its definition of freedom and liberty.
His remarks came as BJP president Rajnath Singh ruled out a rethink on its prime ministerial candidate over the accusation of illegal surveillance by Cobrapost and alleged that 'dirty tricks wing' of Congress was behind the controversy.
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Congress leader Digvijaya Singh also took a potshot at BJP, wondering whether supporters of Narendra Modi would condemn or defend the 'spying on an innocent girl' by the Gujarat police.
"Modi and Amit Shah use Gujarat Police to spy on an innocent girl! Didn't Gujarat Police and then Home Minister violate the Law of the Land?", Singh said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Through another tweet, he sought to know 'would All Modi lovers pl react and condemn it or as a true loyalist defend Modi and Amit Shah'.
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Another Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed tweeted: "For 'Saheb' Amit Shah, then MoS Home, used cops to snoop on a young woman from Gujarat. Everyone asking who is the "Saheb"? Media speculating!".
Sharpening attack on Modi, Tewari said, "first the Gujarat pogrom, which was followed by fake encounter and now the brazen assault in civil liberty by state sponsored stalking.
"I think first of all the BJP president should have given a cogent explanation to the expose by Cobrapost.com and Gulail with regard to state sponsored stalking. You see it raises a larger question and the larger question is not only as a woman but as a civil libertarian," Tewari said.
Modi and his close aide and former Minister of State for Home Amit Shah were on Friday accused of misusing powers and police machinery for illegal surveillance of a young woman in 2009.
"The BJP has recently expressed outrage over an alleged case of telephone tapping," Tewari said and questioned why same people are silent now.
He said, "The intriguing part of the this entire business is that if reporters are correct, the expose did not name the alleged 'sahib'. It is the BJP which has come up with trumped up clarifications and what is even more intriguing that statements have come from the revered father of the lady in question who was also not named in the expose.
"Therefore is that the revered father knows something which nation needs to know." I&B Minister said "It raised some very fundamental question with the regard to the Orwellian state which the esteemed gentleman who heads Gujarat has sought to construct."
Orwellian state relates to the satirical novel 1984 of George Orwell, which depicts a futuristic totalitarian state.
"I think India needs to reflect very seriously on this," Tewari added.
Digvijaya Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, also utilised Twitter to raise the issue of CD allegedly involving brother of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, wondering whether FIR on graft charges will be lodged in the case.
"When this sting operation took place Narendra Singh Chouhan was a MP Govt School Teacher ! Would BJP pl take note of this and comment?", he asked through another tweet.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) on Saturday demanded a court-monitored probe into the illegal surveillance of the woman, saying it posed serious questions about the state of civil liberties in Gujarat.
"To use the powers of the state and further to use the anti-terrorist squad to snoop on the private life of a young woman, to follow her every movement, to snoop also on her other family members and friends, shows the utterly unethical and illegal practices and degeneration of the minimum norms of democratic governance under Modi," the party said in a statement here.
Next: Snooping allegations baseless, Modi is our man for PM post: BJP
Snooping allegations baseless,Modi is our man for PM post: BJP
Raipur: Trashing allegations of illegal snooping against Narendra Modi, BJP on Saturday ruled out Congress demand for a rethink on its Prime Ministerial candidate and claimed that the ruling party's 'dirty tricks wing' was behind the controversy.
"There is no question of doing a rethink on our Prime Ministerial candidate even if a thousand baseless allegations of this kind are made against Narendra Modi. We had already said much earlier that we apprehend that the dirty tricks wing of the Congress will make such baseless allegations against Modi as the elections draw near," BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters.
He was responding to Law Minister Kapil Sibal's demand on Friday that BJP will be forced to rethink its Prime Ministerial candidate as the charges are very serious.
"Instead of making these allegations, Congress should clarify as to who is its Prime Ministerial candidate," Singh said.
He also wondered how Cobrapost got the call details when IPS officer G. L. Singhal, who did the illegal surveillance, had handed over the records to CBI. "Singhal had got bail with CBI support. He was also involved in the Tulsi Prajapati encounter but still got bail," Singh said.
The BJP President pointed out that Cobrapost itself has said it cannot make any claims about the authenticity of the CD.
"The girl's father has also given a statement that he had asked Modi, with whom he had family relations, for security for his daughter. The head of the government is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the people. Modi was only performing his dharma," Singh said.
