New Delhi, July 20: Attacking Narendra Modi for “stalling” appointment of the Gujarat Lokayukta, Congress on Saturday accused him of acting like Hitler and said his “double game” has been exposed by the Supreme Court order.
Comparing Gujarat’s government opposition to Lokayukta’s appointment with Hitler’s act of lockout of institutions during his rule, the party said “these kind of people want to come to Delhi. The Supreme Court judgement has served a warning signal to the nation.”
The Congress reaction came two days after the apex court rejected the curative petition of Modi government challenging the warrant of appointment of Lokayukta by Governor.
Mr. Modi’s “hyped self righteousness and the hypocrisy of BJP” have been exposed, spokesperson Raj Babbar told reporters at the AICC briefing, and demanded that the Gujarat Chief Minister apologise to the people of his state.
“The Supreme Court through its five-judges bench order has exposed those pretending to be clean and practising otherwise.
“It is now expected that the subversion drama enacted by Mr. Modi by consistently playing the double game of pitching for a Lokpal at the Centre and simultaneously stalling appointment of Lokayukta in Gujarat will come to an end,” he said.
Mr. Babbar used the occasion to target Mr. Modi over his “burqa” remarks and referred to German dictator Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbles when a reporter asked him about former BJP President Nitin Gadkari’s remarks seeking action against mediamen doing wrong reporting.
“You will have to face this. This is culture of Hitler and Goebbles. In Hitler’s line of thinking, those who support them are fine but the rest have to face the music,” he said.
Accusing Mr. Modi of stalling Lokayaukta’s appointment to hide his “black deeds,” the Congress spokesperson said that the Gujarat Chief Minister “subverted” all processes of law and governance.
“Congress party demands that Mr. Modi and BJP apologise to the people of Gujarat…the state government has incurred an expenditure of Rs. 45 crores in paying legal fees to various luminaries only in the Supreme Court to stop the appointment of Lokayukta. Mr. Modi should provide details of this wasteful expenditure,” Mr. Babbar said.
A five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice did not find merit in the curative petition filed by the Modi government after dismissal of review petition and appeal against the Gujarat High Court’s decision holding Justice Mehta’s appointment by Governor Kamla Beniwal as valid and legal.
Curative petition, which is decided generally in judges’ chamber, by the three senior most judges and the judges who delivered the impugned judgement, is the last procedural resort for a party to seek redressal against the apex court verdict.
The bench dismissed the curative plea of Gujarat which was filed after its petition seeking review of the January 2 verdict was dismissed.
A bench comprising justices B.S. Chauhan and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla had not found merit in the review petition filed by the state government.
The petition had sought a re-look into the judgement which had dismissed the Modi government’s plea that the appointment of Lokayukta was illegal as it was done without consulting it.
The same bench in its verdict on January 2 had given primacy to the opinion of the High Court Chief Justice on the appointment issue by disagreeing with the state’s contention that the governor could not appoint Lokayukta without its advice.
