Modi would have quit in '02 if had morals: Cong
PTI, PANAJI | 20 November 2013 20:36 IST
Congress on Wednesday said it will not demand the resignation of Narendra Modi over the snooping row claiming that if the Gujarat chief minister really wanted to quit he would have done it after the 2002 Godhra riot.
“We should ask for resignation a person who has got some morality, shame and etiquette,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told mediapersons in Goa.
Tewari was replying to a question by reporters on whether his party would seek Modi’s resignation over the snooping row.
“If he had to submit his resignation he would have given it after the 2002 (Godhra) massacre. So, we should ask for resignation from that person who has a ray of morality in him,” the Union information and broadcasting minister said.
Two investigative news portals, Cobrapost and Gulail, had claimed on November 15 that Modi's aide Amit Shah had ordered illegal surveillance of the woman at the behest of one “sahib”.
They had released taped conversation between Shah and IPS officer G L Singhal to support their claim but said its authenticity could not be confirmed.
Tewari said the party respects the feeling of “that respected woman and her father.”
“Nobody will want that their rights should be abused. No state or the government has the right to illegally abuse the human rights,” he said.
The spokesman said that providing security and spying illegally are two different things.
"In this case if the telephones are tapped illegally, then it is completely wrong according to the Indian laws," Tewari said.
"It is a criminal offence. If the government is involved in all these offences then it is a constitutional right to take action against them," he added.
The BJP, meanwhile, warned the Congress that it should desist from raking up the issue of the alleged snooping of a woman by Gujarat government, saying the party “would have nowhere to hide if the skeletons in its cupboards are brought in the open”.
Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Congress should let the matter rest now that the girl's father has written to the National Commission for Women stating that the Narendra Modi government had made security arrangements for his daughter with the family's consent.
“I think Congress should stop at that. If personal attacks begin, Congress has many skeletons in its cupboards and it will have nowhere to hide,” Javadekar told reporters.
