Amit Shah defends Modi: Samajwadi Party, not BJP, is communal

Formerly Narendra Modi’s deputy in Gujarat and now the BJP’s point man in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Amit Shah, has denied that his arrival in the state was the beginning of a communal campaign there, instead blaming the Akhilesh Yadav government for the flare-ups.

“There has been only one instance of communal violence in UP after I went there, in Muzzaffarnagar. Before that there were 90 incidents in UP . This shows the Akhilesh government is responsible for the communal violence,” he said in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN. 

The former deputy chief minister blamed the Samajwadi Party’s “Muslim appeasement policy” and pointed to the fact that the state government was taking back cases against members of the community who were accused of terrorism.

Denying the allegations against BJP leaders of instigating violence in Muzaffarnagar, Shah said that one-sided action by the police was responsible for sparking the violence.

“The administration should not take one-sided action. It should rise against communal lines and act on legal lines. If administration acts only against one side, then there will be tension,” he said.

Shah said there was a ‘Modi wave’ among the people of Uttar Pradesh because they believed the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate could bring much needed changes.

Claiming that the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party wouldn’t be able to form the government at the centre, Shah said voters were against the Congress.

Shah said there was no planned alliance with the BSP for now but made it clear it wasn’t very likely either.

“Mayawati wants to be the PM so how can she think of supporting anyone else?” he said.

However, despite the claims of strength in the state, the BJP is still to take a decision on whether Modi will contest from the state.

“The party has not yet even discussed this issue yet,” he said.

Shah, who is facing allegations of being involved in multiple cases of extra-judicial killings, said mere CBI chargesheets were not reason enough for him to quit active politics.

He pointed to the example of LK Advani, who despite the CBI filing a chargesheet against him did not quit active politics but only quit as the leader of opposition.

“If (opposition) leaders starts resigning based on CBI chargesheets, then only one party, Congress, will remain,” Shah said.

He alleged that the CBI showed promptness in investigations only when it came to non-Congress leaders and said while he questioned the investigations, the final decision would be that of a court.

When pointed out that former police official DG Vanzara, who is in jail in connection with the extra judicial killings, had laid the blame on him in a strongly worded resignation letter, Shah said it could be the result of him being behind bars for the last six years.

“I will talk to Vanzara about his anger… His letter shows his anger as he expected me to help but I cannot,” Shah said.

The former state home minister said that the call records being displayed as evidence against him were questionable given he had been talking with many more officers than just those accused in the killings of Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsi Prajapati.

“I am not responsible for fake encounters, I have nothing to do with the fake encounters be it Sohrabuddin fake encounter, Tulsi Prajapati or Ishrat Jahan case,” he said.  

He also pleaded innocence when it came to the VHP’s plan to organise a function in Ayodhya saying that he was with the BJP and not with the right wing organisation.  

“Media is taking up the Hindu-Muslim issue for TRPs… The elections have grown above it and the next election will be fought on development issues,” he said.

And despite him setting the ball rolling on the debate over the Ayodhya Ram temple issue, Shah said that it was not a part of the party’s election agenda.

“The BJP party president has made it very clear that mandir is not an election issue,” he said.

The former Gujarat minister also attempted to defend Modi on his flip-flop on the archaeological project in Unnao, motivated by a seer’s dream.  

“His statement has been misinterpreted… He said that instead of doing so much hard work to dig gold from the earth, the government should be concentrating its efforts to get the black money back,” he said, adding that the BJP leader had already clarified his stand.  

Shah denied that the party was using money power to fill rallies at which Modi was speaking and also said that the Gujarat chief minister had not sought that members of the Muslim community should be made to attend rallies in traditional outfits

“Modi has never said that workers have to get Muslims to the rally,” he said.