In his first ever interview to an Urdu daily, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has talked about the post-Godhra riots and said that he be hanged if found guilty.
“Hang me if I am guilty (Main gunehgaar hoon toh mujhe phaansi par latkaa do),” Modi said in an interview conducted by, editor of Nai Duniya.
Former Rajya Sabha member Siddiqui is also a well known Samajwadi Party leader. The cover-page candid interview runs into six pages and covers issues like state of Muslims in Gujarat, post-Godhra riots and
other sensitive issues.
Modi came after a lunch meeting in Mumbai with two Bollywood biggies filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who is one of Modi’s most vocal critics, and celebrated script writer Salim Khan.
Mr Siddiqui explains, “I asked him, ‘Why you don’t apologise? When Sonia Gandhi, Rajivji could apologise, why can’t you apologise?’ He said, ‘ If I am found to be a culprit, I should be hanged…also, if I
am proved innocent, the media should apologise for tarnishing my image’.”
The interview has also led to talks about a possible softening of stance of SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav towards Modi. But, Siddiqui quickly rebuts the theory. “This has nothing to do with SP or Netaji.I
am a journalist first then a member of a political party,” said Siddiqui, who has had stints with the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the past.
When contacted, Bhatt confirmed he had adiscussion with Siddiqui at the residence of Gujarati businessman Zafar Sareshwala. “Shahid did his job as a journalist. It will be unfortunate if the write up is
used as a PR exercise ,” said Bhatt.
–Agencies