A strong critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi until recently, former Aam Aadmi Party leader Shazia Ilmi on Friday defended Mr. Modi on the Gujarat riots. She asked why only he should respond to questions while several other riots have been reported from different parts of the country.
“Only two kinds of riots are always talked about very conveniently – Gujarat riots and Sikh riots,” she said, citing other riot incidents from different parts of the country.
“Have you ever seen Sonia Gandhi speak against Imam Bukhari? Have you ever seen Mulayam Singh Yadav speak against Azam Khan? Have you seen Amanatullah, the AAP’s candidate in Okhla, or Arvind Kejriwal speak against Tauqueer Raja? But you all expect Mr. Modi to speak ....” she said while interacting with a select group of journalists at the Delhi BJP headquarters.
However, when asked about the Trilokpuri riots that occurred in Delhi late last year, which was reportedly fuelled by a former BJP legislator, Ms. Ilmi said, “I am sure there are a lot of imperfections in every party. If you ask me about each and every instance, we will spend another 10 years discussing them....but I really feel among all the parties we have the BJP working towards change.”
The former journalist said she was trying to bring about a new civic identity of being an Indian. “It takes a lot. I do have a Muslim name and I am joining the BJP ,” she said.
Ms. Ilmi said she had spoken to senior leadership of the BJP including party president Amit Shah and Union Minister Arun Jaitely about ‘dharam parivartan’ and ‘ghar wapsi’ issues.
“I was told very clearly that these are not the BJP-sponsored, endorsed programmes, or supported whatsoever,” she said. Earlier, Ms. Ilmi while being inducted formally into the BJP in the presence of Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and Pradesh in-charge Prabhat Jha said that she had no interest in contesting the Delhi polls.
Taking a dig at the 49-day-rule of the AAP government, Ms. Ilmi said, “We don’t want to see a chaotic dharna raj in Delhi but a disciplined administration.”
