Kerala registers 69 per cent voter turnout in second phase LS polls
The state had seen a voter turnout of 77.84 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
statesman news service
New Delhi, 12 July
Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s national election campaign committee chief Narendra Modi today set off a political storm by saying, among other things, that he had done “absolutely the right thing” during the 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat riots and that he is a “Hindu nationalist”.
Mr Modi drew fire from a slew of political parties, ranging from the Congress and the SP to the Left and the JD-U, who were especially incensed by his comment ~ when asked, during an interview with ***Reuters news agency, whether he regretted the 2002 riots ~ that even if a “puppy comes under the wheel of a car”, one feels pain. Attacking Mr Modi, some of these parties condemned him for using such an analogy, alleging that he was seeking to compare the Muslim community with dogs. They also questioned how Mr Modi could lead a secular country like India when he is defining himself in narrow, communal terms.
The BJP dismissed the allegations as unfounded and baseless, asserting that Mr Modi’s comments had been “distorted and misinterpreted” with an aim to “appease a particular community”. The Congress and the SP, however, insisted he should apologise.
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