Ludhiana:
With
Narendra Modi ripping into the Congress yesterday for a series of corruption scandals that have dogged it, the party's Manish Tewari today shot back by saying his alphabetical primer begins with 'F', which stands for Fake Encounter and ends with 'G' which stands for Genocide.
"I do not know whether they are learning the A B C D of politics or they are not learning the X Y Z of politics, but I do know that the alphabetical primer that he follows starts with F that stands for Fake Encounter and ends with G which stands for Genocide," Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told reporters in Ludhiana.
Mr Modi, while campaigning in Rajasthan for elections due in November, had introduced a new political alphabet and said: "A for Adarsh, B for Bofors, C for CWG and D for Damad Ka Karobaar (son-in-law's business)." The last referred to allegations of malpractices in business against Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mr Tewari today said the nation very well knows the alphabetical primer that Mr Modi follows or his government has been following.
Earlier this month, Gujarat cop DG Vanzara, who has been in jail since 2007 for a series of fake encounters, said in a 10-page resignation letter that the Gujarat government and Mr Modi's key aide Amit Shah were aware of the actions of senior police officers like him, who are accused of killing college student Ishrat Jahan, and petty criminals Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati. He also makes bitter remarks about Mr Modi, who he said he "adored like a god."
Mr Modi, who may be declared the BJP's candidate for PM as early as next week, repeatedly faces allegations that he did not do enough to stop the communal riots in his state Gujarat in 2002, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed. Those accusations have not been proven in court.