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Journalism of Courage
Opposition parties, led by the Congress, today assailed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and called upon the Prime Minister and the BJP to ‘‘rein’’ him in.
‘‘We severely condemn Modi’s outrageously indecent targetting of the Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh in person….The PM is supposed to ensure the dignity of India’s constitutional organisation is protected and defended,’’ Congress spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy told reporters here.
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Sonia to visit Gujarat
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AHMEDABAD: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is arriving on a one-day visit to Gujarat on Sunday morning, the party’s state unit president Shankarsinh Vaghela said on Friday. Gandhi will arrive here on Aug. 25 and meet Jain Muni Mahapragyaji at Ahimsa Ashram at Koba near Gandhinagar, Vaghela said. She will address a meeting there and then visit the Prabodh Raval Memorial in Gandhinagar. She will also visit Pipalia village in Rajkot district’s Morbi Taluka. (PTI) |
Asking Vajpayee to observe his rajdharma, once the PM’s advice to Modi, Reddy said if Modi was not reined in, the BJP at the national level would be completely responsible for his ‘‘obnoxious’’ behaviour.
Reddy said the Government’s decision to refer the matter to the Supreme Court has ‘‘emboldened’’ Modi to indulge in this kind of vicious campaign against the CEC.
Taking a dig at secular NDA allies, he said they have to clarify their stand on Gujarat following Modi’s diatribe. The Left parties also expressed their shock over Modi’s outburst called him a ‘‘Fascist’’.
Condemning Modi’s broadside on Lyngdoh’s religious identity, the CPI(M) politburo said it exposes the Gujarat CM’s ‘‘Fascist mentality towards minorities’’. ‘‘It is shocking, though revealing, that the national leaders of the BJP, who act as Modi’s mentors, should remain silent and refuse to condemn his remarks,’’ it said in a statement.
The Left leaders said any personal attack on the CEC for his official conduct would be unconscionable and added, to make him a target on the basis of religion was intolerable.
Former PM V.P. Singh also defended the EC’s decision to postpone Assembly polls in Gujarat in view of the fear in voters’ minds and criticised the BJP for its proposed gaurav yatra. On Modi’s criticism of the CEC, he said ‘‘this is Fascism.’’
