31.7.12

The Modi Interview

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said that he should be hanged if he is found guilty of complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The BJP leader has been accused of giving tacit support to the riots in which more than 1,000 Muslims were killed following the February 27, 2002, Godhra train burning incident in which 57 kar sewaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive. 
In an interview to Urdu newspaper, Nai Duniya, Modi has discussed the riots in which 1,200 people were killed – a majority of them from the minority community. 
The newspaper is edited by Shahid Siddiqui, an MP of the Samajwadi Party from Lucknow. 
The interview is believed to be significant as Modi chose to talk about post-Godhra violence to an Urdu weekly. Earlier, Modi used to walk out of television talk shows when prodded to give his views on the 2002 Gujarat communal riots. 
Siddiqui said that the decision to interview Modi came after a meeting in Mumbai with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and script writer Salim Khan. Siddiqui said he was not satisfied with Modi’s reply.

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