BJP seeks to bury charges against Modi for post-Godhra riots

Says the charges levelled against the party's prime ministerial candidate are based on falsehoods

Seeking to bury charges against Narendra Modi, BJP today said "falsehoods" about the Godhra train fire, the Gujarat chief minister's reported remarks that 2002 riots were a reaction to it and his alleged orders to let Hindus vent their anger have been "exposed and rejected".

In his latest blog posting on his website, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley reasoned how the "sustained campaign (conspiracy)" against Modi on the post-Godhra riots "has collapsed as it was based on falsehoods".

He rubbished the Justice U C Banerjee Commission's report that said the fire in S-6 bogey of Sabarmati Express could have started from inside and no mob had burnt the coach.

"It was clear from day one that a misguided mob at the Godhra Railway station, of members belonging to one community had set the Sabarmati Express compartment No. S-6 on fire," Jaitley said, adding the Supreme Court-appointed SIT, which probed the incident, found that fuel for setting the coach on fire was brought in vehicles to station a day before.

"The motivation of this false campaign was to establish that the Hindu community had set the compartment on fire so that the provocation could lead to riots in Gujarat," he said.