Heavy Industries Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Praful Patel on Wednesday said that any judicial pronouncement on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's alleged involvement in the post-Godhra riots in the state should be accepted and not be questioned further.
"We are in times when we believe that the judicial system is the final recourse to getting justice on any issue or to bring finality to any controversy.
If the judicial system has given any pronouncement, we ought to respect it and not question it further," Mr. Patel, whose party is an ally of the UPA II government at the centre, told reporters here on the sidelines of a function to announce the coming together of six PSUs to set up a a mega solar power plant in Rajasthan.
Mr. Patel was responding to questions asked by newspersons pertaining to the interview given by the Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, to a leading news channel. Mr. Gandhi has attacked Mr. Modi accusing his government of abetting and patronising the 2002 riots in the state.
He said it was up to an individual to give his or her version in any interview but politics was based on perception of not just the politicians but also the public. "The fact remains that if the judicial system has given certain finality to any controversy, then we should let it rest there," he remarked.
Another UPA ally and National Conference leader, New and Renewable Energy Minister, Farooq Abdullah, said he did not want to get into this controversy and merely added, whether Mr. Modi wins or loses it will be the people of India who will decide who will be the Prime Minister.
