End campaign of calumny against Modi aide
With the Central Bureau of Investigation conceding that it has no evidence to indict Mr Amit Shah in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, one hopes that the demonisation of the former Home Minister of Gujarat will finally come to end. Over the years, Mr Shah has been hounded and vilified by the mainstream media and the ruling coalition in equal measure as part of the larger hate-Modi campaign. His proximity to the Chief Minister of Gujarat rendered him an easy target for the cottage industry that mushroomed with the sole intention of running down his boss, Mr Narendra Modi. Eventually, as it became clear that Mr Modi was poised to lead a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in the lok Sabha election, and that Mr Shah, with his tremendous organisational and management skills, was sure to be an important member of the core team, worried Congressmen and their handmaidens in Delhi's power corridors went into an overdrive. They furiously fuelled a campaign of calumny against Mr Shah and plotted to put behind bars the man who was later tasked with managing his party's campaign in Uttar Pradesh and, if pollsters are correct, should now be credited with turning around the BJP's fortunes in that electorally crucial State.
And so with time the list of charges against Mr Shah grew longer. To the accusations of murder were added the allegations of illegal surveillance of a young woman which Mr Shah supposedly carried out at the behest of his “saheb” back in 2009. Mainstream media spent countless hours dissecting the implications of “black beard” and “white beard” while the UPA regime sprung into action and announced a judicial probe. More recently, the Congress leveraged the hurly burly of election season to paint Mr Shah as a hate monger and stoke the communal fire. It raised an unnecessary stink over Mr Shah's “revenge” comment and, the Election Commission, in sync with the Congress, cried hoarse as well. Neither cared that politicians across the world, from Barack Obama to Benazir Bhutto, had said much the same thing when they had urged people to use their vote to avenge the wrongs of non-performing Governments. But the truth and the righteous have a way of redeeming themselves. And so in recent weeks, many of these malicious cases and allegations against Mr Shah have suffered serious blows. After initially censuring Mr Shah for his “revenge” remark, the Election Commission has now revoked his campaign ban and allowed him to address public rallies. The Congress regime has also withdrawn its plans to set up a judicial inquiry into ‘Snoopgate'. And now, the CBI, which earlier had played no small part in advancing the Congress's devious designs, has finally come around and accepted the facts.
On Wednesday, the country's apex investigating agency told a Gujarat court that there was no prosecutable evidence to nail Mr Shah in the Ishrat Jahan case. This was in response to a plea filed by Mr Gopinath Pillai, who's son was among the three killed alongside Ishrat Jahan. Mr Pillai had cited Mr Shah's phone calls with police officers accused in the case, who had testified that they had overheard other officers mention that the fake encounter was approved by the then Home Minister and Chief Minister's approval. Mr Pillai had also pointed to the resignation letter of former IPS officer DG Vanzara in which the accused makes general allegations against Mr Shah but provides no concrete details. The CBI has rightly dismissed both as hearsay evidence.