Ahmedabad:
The morning's headlines shouted that Narendra Modi had ignored the summons issued to him for the 21st of March by a panel that's investigating the Gujarat riots.
The afternoon saw Modi's retort. A letter addressed to the nation, in which he says the media got the date wrong. "The purveyors of untruth failed even to think that March 21, 2010 happens to be a Sunday and a public holiday. These purveyors of lies even did not once bother to check whether the key SIT officers... were present in Gujarat on March 21, 2010... To say that I was summoned on March 21 is completely false." (
Read: Modi's full statement)
Last week, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) asked the Gujarat Chief Minister to appear before it in the case of Ehsan Jafri. A former Congress MP, Jafri was burnt alive in the infamous Gulbarg Society riots of February, 2002. Jafri's wife, Zakia, has in the Supreme Court accused Modi and his colleagues of conspiring in the communal riots that left more than 1000 people dead that year. Zakia alleges that Modi and senior ministers asked bureaucrats and senior policemen not to respond to calls for help by those being attacked. (
Watch: Modi summoned for questioning in riots case: SIT Chief)
In his passionate letter, Modi says that there is a conspiracy to project him as a law-breaker. "They wanted to paint me as a person who refused to respond to the SIT."
The confusion, or the "misinformation campaign" as Modi calls it began the day SIT chief RK Raghavan said Modi had been summoned. The SIT mentioned a date - March 21- that was highlighted by the media. What the SIT did not clarify was that the summons holds valid for an entire week - and can be extended at Modi's request.
In Delhi, the BJP rallied around Modi. At a press conference, party leader Arun Jaitley said, ''Who invented this 21st date and leaked it to the media? They misused the media, and we ask the media to correct this false information.''
The BJP has squarely placed the blame at the SIT's door, implying that the SIT tried to build pressure on Modi by using the media. But Modi's critics say that he is simply trying to buy time. The SIT's own credibility has been challenged in the Supreme Court, and the case will next be heard on April 5. If Raghavan and his team face a setback there, Modi will have the edge.
For now, Modi has armed himself with rhetoric - "My beloved Countrymen, as the lies reach a crescendo as never before I am compelled to bring the facts before the countrymen... And I expect that the media would bring my deep pain and despair to the notice of the people."
In a separate development, the Gujarat High Court has asked another panel investigating the Gujarat riots to explain whether it will summon the Chief Minister. The Nanavati Commission had last year said that the first phase of its inquiry proved that there was nothing to suggest Modi played any part in the Godhra riots when the Sabarmati Express was set on fire - "a pre-planned conspiracy" according to the Commission. The second stage of this panel's inquiry is expected to be completed soon, and the court has asked it to explain by April 1 whether an appearance by Modi will be a part of this conclusive phase. (
Read: Will Modi be summoned, panel asked)