Governor in the time of riots Bhandari slams Modi

Keeping the BJP pot boiling, RSS veteran Sundar Singh Bhandari, who was the Governor of Gujarat during the riots in 2002, has slammed Chief ...

Keeping the BJP pot boiling, RSS veteran Sundar Singh Bhandari, who was the Governor of Gujarat during the riots in 2002, has slammed Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the party’s central leadership for their ‘‘failure’’ to respond quickly and firmly. And even suggested that Modi’s removal could have been one of the ways of damage control.

‘‘I had only one complaint and that was the government failed to take action on time. Had it had taken timely action, many things would not have happened,” he said in an interview to Hindi news magazine Outlook Saptahik.

‘‘The riots were taken lightly and this left a deep scar which needs to be tended to. People would continue to remember Godhra in the same way they recall the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi which took place 50 years ago,” he said.

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Bhandari said the four to six-hour delay in action was a major factor and this had brought a “blot” on the organisation. He said that he was told by Modi in the morning that action had begun but his emphasis was that this should have started the previous night which did not not happen.

In a dig at L K Advani for assuming the party leadership after M Venkaiah Naidu, Bhandari said this shows that the organisation has run out of candidates who are capable of heading it. ‘‘Many years ago, Advani was party Chief and after him, we saw three-four presidents. Some for a year and some for six months. Now Advani has again become President…This is Advani to Advani race…If a change was to be brought about (in place of Naidu), a new face could have been given a chance. This only shows our stock (of leadership) is over.’’

On the state of the party, Bhandari was also critical of ‘‘people with an image of yesmen who do not think of party’s prosperity and have developed vested interests.’’

‘‘We have an executive committee of hundred members. They yawn, sleep, eat and go away. Now the executive meeting is treated as an outing,” he said.

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Asked about RSS chief K Sudarshan’s attack on the functioning of Brajesh Mishra (principal secretary to former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee), Bhandari said: ‘‘What has come out of it? and this has only weakened Sudarshanji in public.’’

‘‘Why talk of Pramod Mahajan? He had also collected crores of rupees for elections but he maintained account of every paisa. These days, nobody knows how much fund was collected and how much spent,” he said in reply to a question.

— with PTI