Government cannot be linked to 2002 massacre: Gujarat

Ahmedabad  :  The Gujarat government Wednesday said the conviction of former minister Mayaben Kodnani in the Naroda Patiya massacre did not in any way mean that the BJP regime was linked to the killings during the 2002 riots.

“Mayaben Kodnani was not a minister when the massacre took place… her conviction can not be linked to the government,” Gujarat government spokesperson Jai Narayan Vyas told reporters here after a special court here convicted Kodnani and 31 others in the massacre of 97 Muslims in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya neighbourhood.

Vyas also said it was not the first time in the country that a minister was being convicted and there have been many instances in the country of former state ministers being convicted.

“The same thing has happened in all the states,” he said.

Vyas said that the state government needed to study the fine prints of the judgment before commenting on it.