Shiv Sena questions Modi govt plea for death

“There can be no two opinions that criminals should be punished. However, when the court has already given a harsh sentence to Kodnani and Bajrangi, what does the Gujarat government want to show to the world by seeking the death penalty,” the editorial in the Saamana, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, said.
“The Gujarat government is going to seek the death penalty for Kodnani and eight others in the Gujarat high court. Nobody will justify the Gujarat riots that broke out a day after a train was burnt at Godhra. Ninety-eight people died in the Naroda Patiya riot on February 28, 2002. The court has sentenced Maya Kodnani to 28 years’ imprisonment, given life imprisonment to Babu Bajrangi and 31 years’ imprisonment to eight others. Considering Kodnani and Bajrangi’s age, they will probably spend the remainder of their lives behind bars. But the Gujarat government has taken a ‘secular’ stand, that the punishment given by the trial court is not enough and the accused should be hanged till dead,” said the Saamana editorial.

“The court has held that Kodnani, Bajrangi and other accused instigated the Hindu mob. But today nobody is ready to answer why Hindus had to come out on the streets and prepare for self-defence. Every Hindutvawadi leader has become too eager to project himself as a secular leader,” the Sena said without naming Mr Modi.

“It has often been said that Gujarat is a laboratory of Hinduism. The only expectation is that the lab does not produce (nidharmita) a religious poison,” it said.

Courtesy: Asian Age