New Delhi, Jan 31: As her remarks praising Narendra Modi created a flutter, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today clarified she cannot laud a Chief Minister “accused” of post-Godhra communal riots.
“I cannot possibly be praising a leader or a Chief Minister who has been accused by people of his involvement in Godhara riots which killed many many innocent people. The Godhara incident was communalisation. How can we Congress people even think of praising such a person”? Dikshit told PTI.
Soon after the controversial statement made by the Delhi Chief Minister at a function created a flutter, her office also issued a statement saying she did not praise any chief minister but said only the governments which delivered have been returned to power.
Addressing a function, Dikshit had earlier said “I am not talking about party. There is no two opinion that development is taking place in Gujarat and (because of that) government gets re-elected. Why governments get re-elected? Why they come again and again? Because they ensure development”.
In her remarks in Agra, she also gave the example of Assam where Congress government has been voted to power for three consecutive terms.
“I have given example of Assam also. There also development is taking place,” Dikshit, who led Congress in Delhi for its third consecutive victory in 2008, said.
“If there is a benchmark for government in this era, then it is about ensuring development and growth,” said Dikshit.
In a sort of self-goal in an election year, the Gujarat Congress had in a Republic Day advertisement in local newspapers last week praised Modi.
AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi downplayed the contoversy over Dikshit's statement saying it was made in a different context and is being distorted.
“This is a distortion of what she said. She merely said that some development might have taken place (kuchch to development hua hi hoga). There is no question of connecting Modi's abysmal track record with this statement, which was made in a totally different context,” Singhvi said.
