RIYADH, 3 November 2007 — A group of three members of Parliament from Bihar yesterday demanded the immediate arrest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the recent Tehelka expose of communal riots in Gujarat.
The expose, by the Indian weekly newspaper Tehelka, has conclusively established Modi’s role in the Gujarat riots, which left over 3,000 innocent Muslims dead, said MPs, Ram Kripal Yadav, Motiur Rahman and Girdhari Yadav in a press conference here.
The MPs are currently in the Kingdom with Minister of State for Human Resources M.A.A. Fatmi, to attend a private function.
Speaking about the 2002 Gujarat pogroms, Rahman said, “The Tehelka tapes are sufficient evidence to book Modi and other perpetrators of the carnage.”
Ram Kripal said, “The Tehelka sting operation had vindicated whatever we have been saying regarding the Gujarat riots.”
Tehelka last week aired tapes showing “irrefutable” evidence that the killings of Muslims post-Godhra train carnage in Gujarat was “not a spontaneous swell of anger but a genocide” planned and executed by top functionaries of the Sangh Parivar and state authorities “with the sanction” of Modi.
“The RJD is always on the forefront of secular politics and it was none other than RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who dared to arrest BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader L.K. Advani in Bihar on the Babri Masjid issue a few years back and we will try to do the same with Modi,” said Ram Kripal, a senior RJD member of Parliament.
Referring to the relation between India and the Gulf states, Ram Kripal said, “The relation between India and Saudi Arabia on the one hand, and between India and the Gulf states on the other, have been steadily growing following the visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to India last year.”
The MPs promised to visit Saudi Arabia more often to interact with a large number of workers, who come from their states. They also said that Muslims should get due representation in government jobs, as per the recommendation of the Sachhar Committee.
Asked about the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar, Girdhari said, “Nitish Kumar’s government in the state has failed utterly while sitting on the lap of the BJP.”
Highlighting the law and order situation in the state, Ram Kripal noted, “More than 5,00 kidnappings have taken place in Bihar in 2006 alone.” This does not include over 175,000 serious criminal acts recorded by the government agencies in the same year, he added. The MPs were of the opinion that the recently held massive RJD rally in Patna would serve as an eye opener for the government.
They denied that there was any threat to Manmohan Singh’s government on the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal and ruled out the possibility of midterm elections.
