Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday stepped up his attack on the Congress on the day of the Babri mosque demolition anniversary and slammed senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal for seeking deferment of the Ayodhya dispute case in the apex court till the 2019 parliamentary polls.
In a campaign rally in his home State Gujarat, just three days before the voting in 89 Assembly constituencies in the first phase, Mr. Modi questioned the veteran Congress leader for “linking the Ayodhya case hearing with the parliamentary polls” during the apex court hearing on Tuesday.
“How can he [Kapil Sibal] tell the Supreme Court to not hear the case and bring solution till the next Lok Sabha polls? How is the Ayodhya dispute settlement related to the election,” the Prime Minister asked the crowd at a rally in Dhandhuka near Ahmedabad.
Mr. Sibal’s appearance for a litigant in the Ayodhya dispute case pending before the apex court, has given room to the ruling party in Gujarat to deflect the election agenda from the local governance issues being raised by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi during his extensive campaign tours across the State.
Mr. Modi said “he had no problem with Kapil Sibal representing the Muslim community” in the legal matter but asked the Congress to come clean on Mr. Sibal’s plea, which was rejected by the apex court. (Mr. Sibal later said he was not representing the Sunni Wakf Board as Mr. Modi claimed.)
Mr. Modi said all parties involved in the legal battle want early resolution of the issue pending before the judiciary for more than two decades.
On Tuesday, hours after the hearing in the SC , BJP president Amit Shah raised the issue of Mr. Sibal’s plea in the matter, while asking Mr. Gandhi to make his position clear.
Triple talaq
“When the triple talaq case was pending in the SC, the government submitted an affidavit even as the media outlets were suggesting that Modi will remain silent because of the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh,” the PM said. “I will not remain silent over triple talaq because it’s about the rights of women and humanity,” he added.
