Not silent on riots, but no exercise to understand truth: Narendra Modi
New Delhi: Narendra Modi today said he was never silent on the 2002 riots in his Gujarat, but no one ever tried to "understand the truth," which he blamed on a conspiracy.
"I was not silent. I answered every top journalist in the country from 2002 to 2007, but noticed there was no exercise to understand the truth. It was an unknown entity causing conspiracies," he told the ANI news agency today.
Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, has expressed regret for the communal violence 12 years ago in Gujarat, the state he has ruled since 2001, but has never apologised. In the middle of a national election that many believe will catapult him to power, the 63-year-old has repeatedly faced questions on demands for his apology.
He told ANI that he "felt very hurt" by allegations against him, but gradually learned how to cope with them.
Mr Modi's critics still say he didn't do enough to check the riots that left a deep scar on his party's relationship with the Muslim community.
"I will not wear any symbol of appeasement for a photo op. Does Sonia Gandhi wear a skull cap?" he questioned, when asked about his refusal to wear a traditional Muslim skull cap offered by a cleric in 2011, an episode that is cited by many of his critics as a sign of his hardline stance.
Mr Modi, who is contesting from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, said he was confident that Muslims, who are a fourth of the city's voters, would "love him when they met him."
"I was not silent. I answered every top journalist in the country from 2002 to 2007, but noticed there was no exercise to understand the truth. It was an unknown entity causing conspiracies," he told the ANI news agency today.
Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, has expressed regret for the communal violence 12 years ago in Gujarat, the state he has ruled since 2001, but has never apologised. In the middle of a national election that many believe will catapult him to power, the 63-year-old has repeatedly faced questions on demands for his apology.
He told ANI that he "felt very hurt" by allegations against him, but gradually learned how to cope with them.
Mr Modi's critics still say he didn't do enough to check the riots that left a deep scar on his party's relationship with the Muslim community.
"I will not wear any symbol of appeasement for a photo op. Does Sonia Gandhi wear a skull cap?" he questioned, when asked about his refusal to wear a traditional Muslim skull cap offered by a cleric in 2011, an episode that is cited by many of his critics as a sign of his hardline stance.
Mr Modi, who is contesting from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, said he was confident that Muslims, who are a fourth of the city's voters, would "love him when they met him."
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