Court order a moral victory for Modi, party: BJP

“I have no hesitation in saying that Congress and its friend NGOs knew that they cannot fight Modi politically in Gujarat. That is why they decided to target him using malicious publicity, CBI and judicial process... We consider the verdict a moral victory for Modi and our party,” he said.  He challenged Congress to compare the response of Modi government to 2002 riots with the way its government responded to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Giving out figures, he said 1,04,088 people were arrested under preventive and punitive measures and as many as 4,272 cases were registered and verdict has been delivered in 1,168 cases.

“I want to ask Congress that how many people were arrested, how many cases registered, how many convicted.... in 1984 riots,” he said adding truth always holds together and falsehood falls apart.

In a major relief to Modi, a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad rejected the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of a former Congress MP, objecting to the Supreme Court-appointed SIT's closure report absolving Modi of complicity in the conspiracy behind the 2002 carnage which left over 1000 people dead, mostly Muslims.