Is Gujarat An 'Enemy State', Asks Modi

Ahmedabad- In a scathing attack on the Centre following CBI's plea to shift the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case outside Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked whether the state was considered a part of "enemy" country.

 "Do you not consider Gujarat as a part of India. "Why is Gujarat being treated as if it was part of an enemy state. Are judges of Gujarat useless. Other courts of the country are good, but courts in Gujarat are bad," he asked.

 Modi's remarks at a function here came a day after CBI filed a status report in the Sohrabuddin case in the Supreme Court urging it to shift the case outside Gujarat for a "fair trial", saying "the atomosphere is not conducive in the state".

Modi accused Congress of playing vote bank politics on the fake encounter case and blatantly using the CBI.

"There is an attempt to pollute the environment of Gujarat. This is an insult of the judicial system of Gujarat.. its judges..its lawyers," Modi said.

The firebrand Chief Minister accused the Centre of targetting him for the last eight years.

"They are trying to malign my name for the last eight years. But now they have started maligning the judicial system of the state. I will not tolerate this. They can attack me but why the judicial system?" the Chief Minister asked.

"Am I doing anything wrong by fighting terrorism.. Have I done anything wrong by arresting the accused of Ahmedabad blasts. Why I am being stopped from fighting terrorism?" he asked.

 Modi has stepped up the offensive since the arrest of his close aide and former minister Amit Shah, by the CBI for alleged involvement in the case.

"Gujarat's peace, brotherhood, development and progress is not liked by some people. They are working towards maligning it. There have been serious efforts to maintain peace in the state. But they do not want peace in Gujarat. They want to demean it," he alleged.

Citing the example of the Best Bakery case, in which the trial was held in a Mumbai court, Modi said even though the case was transferred to Mumbai, the investigation was done by Gujarat police, and the case papers and charge sheet was prepared by them.

"Only the courtroom and judge was from Mumbai, rest including the investigation was by Gujarat police, based on which the accused were convicted," he said.

Similarly, he said in the Bilkis Bano case, which was first transferred outside Gujarat, and then handed over to CBI, all persons except one, named in the chargesheet filed by Gujarat police were convicted.

"This shows that Gujarat police was correct and CBI wrong," the Chief Minister said while accusing the CBI of bias and training its guns on the courts, judges and people of Gujarat.

Modi has slammed the CBI for filing a case against Shah, alleging that it was a political attempt to undermine his government.

The CBI, which is probing the case, believes that Shah ordered Gujarat's senior-most policemen to eliminate Sohrabuddin because he had become a recurring problem for marble traders in Rajasthan, who were tired of his extortion attempts.

Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauser bi, were killed in November 2005 in alleged fake encounters. The Gujarat police branded Sohrabuddin as a Lashkar-e-Toiba member who planned to assassinate Modi.

In Bhavnagar, the Gujarat Chief Minister had declared, "Give up trying to frighten Narendra Modi. He has not been - and will not be - intimidated."

"This is a fight between the nationalists and the anti-nationalists and the battleground is Gujarat. I am sure Gujarat will win," Modi had added.

  On Thursday, he had mocked the CBI stating that its members would soon be chosen as Congress candidates for the next elections.

 The CBI in its status report into its six-month-old investigation into the sensational case does not make a direct mention of Modi in connection with the case but has annexed the "internal memo" which makes a reference to him and the then DGP P C Pandey. Pandey has been summoned by CBI for questioning.

  The investigating agency has said there was reasonable apprehension that influential politicians and bureaucrats would make all possible efforts to derail the trial in the case.

 The Supreme Court on January 12 handed over the investigation of the case to the CBI asking it to place before it the report on the progress of the probe within six months by July 31.

 In addition to Shah, the other main accused in the case are suspended DIG D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, both Gujarat cadre IPS officers and Dinesh M N, a Rajasthan cadre IPS officer.

 After CBI took over the case, another senior Gujarat cadre IPS officer Abhay Chudasama was arrested on April 28. PTI