Snoopgate: BJP trashes inquiry commission, calls it phony

New Delhi: The BJP today trashed the proposed Commission of Inquiry to probe the Gujarat snooping case as a “phoney commission” and said it was yet another attempt by Congress to target Narendra Modi after failing to implicate him in 2002 post-Godhra riots and fake encounter cases. Terming the UPA government’s decision as the “grossest abuse of powers”, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said it violates the federal structure of the Constitution and is an affront to the states. [caption id=“attachment_1308587” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arun Jaitley. AFP[/caption] Observing that in all this fight the Gujarat Chief Minister has only “emerged stronger”, he suggested that the government deliberately took the decision on a day the judicial verdict in a 2002 riots case, which gave clean chit given to Modi, came. “It’s a phoney commission. You should understand the political context behind the allegation. Besides the so called snoop scandal, they had conspired to fix him (Modi) in three more case,” Jaitley said, referring to 2002 riots cases and alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin and Ishrat Jahan. “It has been proved today that after 11 years of propaganda they could not implicate him in 2002 riots cases. Cabinet was aware that the judicial verdict would come today. This can be their calculation. It is a strange coincidence that Cabinet took the decision today,” Jaitley said. He told reporters that Centre mischievously included other cases of snooping, including one in which his call records were illegally accessed, to make it look like a multi-state case so that it could launch a probe. “They have made a case that it involved more than one state. How it happened? They have included the illegal surveillance of my call details. I never demanded any commission. It happened one year back and I never got any response from government and now they have included my case it make it a multi-state issue. That’s why I choose to call it a phoney commission. this is the grossest abuse of powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act,” he said. Jaitley also targeted the websites, which had exposed the alleged illegal snooping of a woman by Gujarat government by releasing tapes of conversation between its officials. In an era which has seen the most corrupt scams of all times, he said referring to alleged 2G, Coal block and CWG cases, these websites could not see this corruption but only Gujarat. “In all this fight, Modi has only emerged stronger. He faced an adversity and he has emerged stronger in this adversity,” he said. This governtment’s decision, he said, legally is suspect and liable for challenge. “It is an affront to the States. I hope other Chief Ministers also join in the protest against this action,” he said. PTI