Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Monday ruled out an apology from party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying he did not have to do it to satisfy a “fake campaign” against him.
“Those asking for an apology wanted the apology to be an act of confession. If he has actually committed a mistake why apologise, he should have been prosecuted and punished for it. We can squabble over the kind of expressions one wants to use... To satisfy a fake campaign he does not have to apologise,” Jaitley said in an interaction with foreign journalists here.
Jaitley said Modi is certainly concerned about the violence and about putting in place a system to prevent recurrence of riots. The leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said all Gujaratis, including Muslims, have prospered under Modi’s rule and these voices demanding an apology are not coming from within the State. “These are coming from these campaigns,” said Jaitley.
About the reported “unease” among Muslims about Modi and what he and the BJP have done to assuage these apprehensions, Jaitley said they were concerned about the security of the minority community, non-discrimination and their economic progress.
“Modi himself repeats this assurance of security, non-discrimination and economic progress when he repeatedly says that the primary document of governance will be Indian Constitution... That is why efforts of our opponents to create this scare are not working,” he said.
The country, including a large number of people belonging to the minority community, has left behind the issues of 2002 riots, he said. “The entire argument of Modi being a polarising figure is projected by those who had unleashed a personal campaign against him post 2002 in the hope that allegations will stick...No Indian politician had to face that kind of both public and judicial scrutiny,” Jaitley said.
He said Modi’s critics claimed after he had received a clean chit in the investigations that his projection as PM candidate will polarise India on the basis of religion. “Quite to the contrary, India has got polarised on the issues of governance... It is evident that a very large number of people, including those in the minority community, can see reason and truth,” he said, adding that another claim that the BJP would not get allies has also been proved incorrect.
Asked how much of Muslim votes BJP expects to get, he said they were aiming to get a very large number of them. He cited the victory of BJP candidates, including Muslims, in municipal elections in minority-dominated areas of Gujarat and that all the four victorious Muslim MlAs in Rajasthan belong to the party as a proof of its success in winning over a section of the minority votes.