The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday exchanged barbs over the Central Bureau of Investigation’s clean chit to former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in the alleged 2004 fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
While the Congress downplayed the clean chit, the BJP said it was a case of “ satyameva jayate [truth prevails]”.
“If the CBI has decided not to include Amit Shah’s name in the charge sheet, it is their professional decision,” Congress spokesperson Shashi Tharoor said. He added that this was proof of the CBI, which the BJP had derisively dubbed the ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation,’ had “functional freedom”.
However, BJP spokesperson Mukthar Abbas Naqvi, insisted that both Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah were victims of the Congress’s political vendetta. “The CBI’s clean chit to Mr. Shah shows that truth triumphs,” he said.
However, Mr. Tharoor emphasised that it was “not exoneration by a court” and that “undoubtedly, the family and other complainants will have the right to pursue the matter through judicial process”.
