Patna: Refusing to buy Nitish Kumar's argument absolving himself of the Godhra tragedy, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday accused him of closing the Railways' probe in the train burning incident to suit the interest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. "Nitish as Railway Minister had closed inquiry into the Sabarmati train burning incident to suit interest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. This had triggered riots," Prasad, who succeeded Kumar as Railway Minister in UPA-I, told reporters in Patna.
"Rail se Godhra ka pura khel suru huan (the entire game of Godhra begun from Railway)," Prasad said, refusing to give clean chit to Kumar in the episode. "He (Kumar) cannot absolve himself from the Godhra incident merely by saying that Railway looks into safety and not law and order problem," Prasad said.
"Had Nitish got a sincere probe done into the Godhra train burning incident, the matter would not have escalated to this level," he said. "Since the probe was closed by Nitish Kumar, I had to reopen it by ordering a comprehensive inquiry into Sabarmati Express incident when I became Railway minister," Prasad said.
"He (Nitish) is party to Gujarat riots by keeping silent over train burning incident," Prasad, an arch-rival of the Bihar Chief Minister, said. "2002 (when Gujarat riots took place) was the real test of his (Nitish) secularism in which he miserably failed," the RJD chief said, adding, "had he been secular in true sense he should have quit
10:14 AM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay delivery of judgement in the Sabarmati Express train burning case. The verdict in the case will be pronounced on February 19. The judgement on the Godhra carnage case, where 58 people were burnt to death triggering massive communal riots across Gujarat, will be pronounced nearly nine years after the incident took place. Designated judge PR Patel, who completed hearing the...
12:38 PM, Jan 25, 2011
New Delhi: There is a new low in the ties between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) as the two parties have taken on each other over the Sabarmati tragedy in Godhra in 2002. BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi on Monday pointed out that it was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was the rail minister during the Sabarmati tragedy of 2002. "There is no one in the... 
