Gadkari issues a statement on M.G.Vaidya blog issue

Senior Rashtraiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist M.G. Vaidya’s remarks in his blog that the needle of suspicion in the campaign against BJP President Nitin Gadkari points to the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has attracted reaction from the BJP.

“The BJP completely rejects such insinuations, as it is totally unfounded,” BJP President Nitin Gadkari said today evening in a statement.

He said all central leaders of the BJP and its Chief Ministers have been “working cohesively”. “We are fighting the Gujarat Assembly elections with complete unity of purpose and total mutual confidence,” he said and added that the BJP stands firmly behind Modi.

The full text of the statement is here: My attention has been drawn to a Marathi blog written by M.G. Vaidya, a senior journalist, the substance of which has also been published by a section of the media. The writer has tried to link recent comments by one of the Party MPs with Shri Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat. The BJP completely rejects such insinuation, as it is totally unfounded. All central leaders of the Party and its Chief Ministers have been working cohesively and unitedly for the cause of the Party. We are fighting Gujarat assembly elections with complete unity of purpose and total mutual confidence. BJP is firmly and unitedly behind Shri Narendra Modi and we are confident that the Party will win decisively in the ensuing assembly elections.

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Complaint against Gadkari in Gujarat court over Vivekananda remark

Nitin Gadkari got no respite from the controversy over his remarks on Swami Vivekananda and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim with a complaint in a Gujarat court on Tuesday seeking penal action against the BJP President and RSS disapproving the comments.

Even as Gadkari denied comparing Swami Vivekananda with Dawood and expressed “sincere regrets” over the hurt to public sentiments caused by his remarks, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad waded into the row saying the Intelligence Quotient(IQ) of the BJP chief msut be tested.

In Gujarat, a complaint was filed in a Jamnagar court seeking penal action against Gadkari.

Chief Judicial Magistrate LG Chudasama, after hearing the complainant, reserved the order till November 9, 2012.

The complaint filed by advocate Harshad Bhatt, who is also the spokesperson of Jamnagar district Congress, has also sought appropriate criminal action against BJP national spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, who, as alleged in the complaint, had endorsed the comments made by Gadkari.

“By comparing Swami Vivekananda with the most wanted criminal of India Dawood Ibrahim, he has hurt the religious feelings of millions of his followers world wide,” Bhatt complained while citing Gadkari’s remarks.

Bhatt demanded penal action under sections 295 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (uttering, words etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

RSS disapproved Gadkari’s comments saying one should be “careful” about sentiments of people.

“People like Swami Vivekananda are very respected people across the world. So when we talk about them…We have to keep in mind that sentiments of millions of people are attached to them and we should be careful about that,” RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said in New Delhi.

Lalu Prasad, a former chief minister of Bihar, said, “The IQ of Gadkari must be tested for his temerity to make a comparison between Vivekanand and the fugitive don.

“It must be ascertained with whom Gadkari’s IQ matches,” Prasad told reporters in Patna.

Gadkari’s speech at an award event in Bhopal on Sunday appeared to compare the IQ of Swami Vivekananda and Ibrahim, evoking sharp criticism from Congress and others.

Criminal complaint against Gadkari over Vivekananda-Dawood remark

A complaint was filed on Tuesday in a local court seeking penal action against BJP president Nitin Gadkari for “hurting” religious sentiments of lakhs of followers of Swami Vivekananda by commiparing him with mob boss Dawood Ibrahim.

Chief Judicial Magistrate LG Chudasama, after hearing the complainant, reserved the order till November 9.

The complaint filed by advocate Harshad Bhatt, who is also the spokesperson of Jamnagar district Congress, has also sought appropriate criminal action against BJP national spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, who, as alleged in the complaint, had endorsed the comments made by Gadkari.

“By comparing Swami Vivekananda with the most wanted criminal of India Dawood Ibrahim, he has hurt the religious feelings of millions of his followers worldwide,” Bhatt said while citing comments made by Gadkari on Sunday at a function in Bhopal.

Bhatt demanded penal action under sections 295 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (uttering, words etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the IPC.

“As per psychology, if we can compare the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and that of Dawood Ibrahim, then it could have been almost the same. But Vivekananda used it in nation building, brotherhood and spiritualism, while Dawood used that in excelling in crime world,” Gadkari had said.

Will fight graft charges: Gadkari

BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday vowed to fight the charges levelled against him. “I am a street-fighter. I have been accused of wrongs I haven’t committed. I will not sit quiet. I will take this fight to the courts as well as to the people,” he said.

Specifically mentioning a “media house”, he said it had laundered money in Mauritius after buying Rs 10 shares for Rs 38,000. “I have the papers. I won’t leave those unchallenged who have indulged in character assassination,” he warned.

Addressing a crowd of supporters near Gadkari Wada (residence), where he was escorted in a procession by his supporters from the airport after he arrived in the morning from New Delhi, the BJP president said: “ The Congress and their media agents ran all false stories against me. I have done no wrong. I and my family have shares only worth Rs 1 lakh in Purti group. Let anyone investigate. I have myself volunteered to be probed.”

Gadkari said: “The media said I have laundered money. The investor companies were described as Purti companies, when Purti isn’t responsible for their details. If you have some company’s shares, do you own that company? Similarly if some companies have shares in Purti, do they become Purti’s adjuncts? How am I responsible if companies have shown some wrong addresses?”

Asserting that he had built houses for poor workers at concessional rates, he added: “NDTV said I am a builder. Many of you here are beneficiaries of those Rs 400 per sq ft houses. Do you get a house at that low a price anywhere?”

“Why would I indulge in a loss-making business like running sugar mills if I were to make money? The Purti group has losses of Rs 64 crore. I took loan from a company. Is taking loan wrong? I am also repaying it. All of it on record. I would have been a contractor and a builder if I were to make money. I started defunct sugar units because I wanted to help debt-ridden farmers of Vidarbha,” he said.

Charging the Congress with making false accusations, Gadkari said: “Congress leader Manish Tewari said I had a flat in Adarsh. I sent him legal notice. He came to me and apologised. Similarly, I have filed a defamation case against Digvijaya Singh too.”