PM Modi endured pain for 19 years, Amit Shah after SC ruling on Gujarat riots

File Image: Union Minister Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on June 25 that he saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi endured pain through the “19-year-long battle" in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

Shah's comment come a day after the Supreme Court upheld the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to Modi, who was then the Gujarat chief minister, and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots in the state, dismissing the plea of Zakia Jafri, whose husband Congress leader Ehsan Jafri was killed in the violence.

Ehsan was among 69 people killed during the violence at the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.

"The Supreme Court has dismissed all allegations, it has said why allegations were levelled. You can say in a way that allegations are politically motivated, this has also been proved," Shah told news agency ANI in an interview.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar upheld the magistrate's order rejecting Zakia Jafri's protest petition against the closure report filed by the SIT in 2012.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, said her plea was devoid of merit. She had alleged a larger conspiracy in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

"It was a battle of 19 years. Such a big leader without saying a word, endured pain like Lord Shiva drank poison and continued to fight (sabhi dukhon ko bhagwan Shankar ke vishpan ki tarah gale mein utarkar sehen karkar ladta raha). Now in the end when the truth has come out like glittering gold, it has come out with full shine, then it is natural to feel joyous (anand hi hoga)," Shah said in the interview.

“I am happy that Modiji has set an example that no matter the allegation, he always believed in the law and upheld the Constitution,” he said.

The home minister also said that the burning of train in Godhra had led to the riots. "I myself saw a 16-day old daughter die on her mother's lap," Shah, who was part of Modi’s ministerial team at that time, said.

He personally witnessed the loss of lives and attended funerals following the incident.

The government's priority was to hand over the dead to their families, Shah said, refuting the allegations of "parading" the bodies.

The home minister said the Gujarat government had no inputs that taking the deceased to their respective homes would trigger the reaction that the country witnessed.

There was no intent to instigate as the deceased were taken in closed ambulances.

Shah also referred to the protests organised by the Congress against the questioning of party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money laundering case.

“This is not the first clean chit given to Modiji, he did not do any drama to appear before the SIT. We believed in the procedure of law, and Modiji agreed to cooperate,” he said.

The Congress organised nationwide protests after ED summoned to its interim president Sonia Gandhi and her son and MP Rahul in the National Herald case.