A day after two investigative websites claimed that the State security apparatus was misused by the Gujarat Government to stalk an unmarried young woman from Bangalore, the BJP’s opponents have demanded action against erring policemen and Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s key aide, Amit Shah.
The BJP termed the episode as yet another “dirty trick” of the Congress and said there was no question of changing Modi as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 general elections. The Congress said the Gujarat Government violated the law of the land by stalking a woman. “Modi and Amit Shah use Gujarat Police to spy on an innocent girl! Didn’t Gujarat Police and then Home Minister violate the Law of the Land?” asked Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh.
The CPI(M) said the issue raises serious questions about the state of civil liberties in Gujarat. “To use the powers of the State, and further, to use the anti-terrorist squad to snoop on the private life of a young woman, to follow her every movement, to snoop also on her other family members and friends, shows the utterly unethical and illegal practices and degeneration of the minimum norms of democratic governance under Modi,” CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement.
It urged the State Government to take immediate action against Shah and the police officers for violating the Indian Telegraph Act. BJP president Rajnath Singh said in Raipur that instead of making false allegations, the Congress should clarify on who its Prime Ministerial candidate was. “There is no question of doing a rethink on our Prime Ministerial candidate even if a thousand baseless allegations of this kind are made against Narendra Modi. We had already said much earlier that we apprehend that the dirty tricks wing of the Congress will make such baseless allegations against Modi as the elections draw near,” Singh added.