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Cong. demands action against Modi

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 18. Amidst allegations that the party was indulging in "soft Hindutva'' in Gujarat and was wary of being seen to be too "anti-Modi'', the Congress today said the State administration and the police ought to take action against the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's "inflammatory statements'' as they constituted a "criminal and cognisable offence''.

At today's media briefing, the party spokesman, Anand Sharma, had to face a volley of questions on what the Congress would do in the light of the inflammatory statements made by Mr. Modi during the course of his controversial `gaurav yatra'.

According to Mr. Sharma, the Congress would take effective political measures to counter the hate campaign of Mr. Modi by mobilising public opinion. As to whether the State unit of the party would file a case against Mr. Modi, the answer was that since those statements were made in public in the presence of the police, it was for the State machinery to take cognisance of them and file a case.

"The law of the land is applicable to one and all, and the Chief Minister is not exempted,'' Mr. Sharma said, even as questions were asked as to whether it was realistic to expect an administration and a police force which had been mute witness to State-sponsored violence to file a case against Mr. Modi. All he had to say was that "in the case of a cognisable offence, there is no excuse for the administration and the police not to register a case''.

Reacting to the violence in some areas of the State on Tuesday, Mr. Sharma said it was testimony to the fact that the situation in the State was still far from normal. Also, he was critical of the State Government's decision to transfer four senior police officials who had provided correct information to the Election Commission on the situation in Gujarat.

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