People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Prosecute Modi

Narender Modi has been making inflammatory communal statements with uncanny regularity even since the unfortunate Godhra incident of February 27 and the subsequent carnage that engulfed that state with the full complicity of his government. Modi who fancies himself as the most popular chief minister is currently the mascot of the communal BJP. The party president and the deputy prime minister are fully backing the Modi 'Gaurav Yatra'. Even during the parliament debate on Gujarat developments, L K Advani had expressed the hope that Modi will get an endorsement from the people of Gujarat. The man who propounded the vicious "action-reaction" theory to justify the massacre of innocent members of minority community in his state seems to have lost his head after the Election Commission order which found the situation in the state not conducive for holding early elections. His plan of riding to power by exacerbating the communal divide in the state thus foiled, Modi resorted to the most despicable and virulent attack on the Christian background of J M Lyngdoh and Sonia Gandhi.

Unbridled Modi at the end of the first leg of his 'gaurav yatra' went on to attack a section of the population in his state in a language that can only be described as uncivilised and barbaric. He descended in his meanness to describe the refugee camps in Gujarat as "baby producing centres." He said on September 9 at Becharaji ---- "In order to progress every child born in Gujarat needs education, manners and employment, that is the economy we need ---- and for this we will have to teach a lesson to those who are increasing the population at an alarming rate --- what should we do? Run relief camps for them? Do we want to open baby producing centres."

Coming from a chief minister, apart being callous and outrageous, it is unlawful. Such utterances constitute a clear criminal offence under Section 153(A) and Section 505 of the IPC. For prosecution under the sections, the permission of the state is required and since in Modi's regime in Gujarat such permission is not going to be granted, the President of India should be approached jointly by all secular political parties to seek permission to prosecute Modi. Pending his and his party's electoral rout in Gujarat, Modi should be prosecuted according to the law of the land.