‘KPS Gill has not given a clean chit to Modi’: Digvijay Singh

New Delhi – Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday said former Punjab DGP KPS Gill has not given a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on 2002 riots, but highlighted the mistake and incompetence of the police.

“He has not given a clean chit to him (Modi). In fact, he has said that it was the mistake and incompetence of the police and the political leadership cannot be blamed for it,” Singh told media here.

“This does not mean that he has given a clean chit to Modi and KPS Gill is not a judicial officer,” he added.

Giving a clean chit to Modi, Gill yesterday said the 2002 riots were a total failure of the police and not political leadership.

“I have written in my book that it was a total police failure and not failure of police leadership,” he said.

Gill said it was Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who called him there when the riots were taking place.

“His (Modi) intention was to prevent it. When I went there, he did not interfere in my work. And the riots came to an end within three days,” said Gill.

“It was the same force and army, but it was not properly utilized.  I properly utilized them and everything came to an end. They were not utilized earlier because the local police had no experience of it. So, that was the situation,” he added.

Gill, who had served as security advisor to the Gujarat Chief Minister in 2002, had earlier on Thursday said that Modi cannot be blamed for post-Godhra riots as it is the job of the police leadership to respond to law and order situations.

“In law and order situations, it is the police leadership which has to respond and not the political leadership,” he told media, when asked about his assessment of Modi’s handling of post-Godhra events.

The former Punjab DGP, who was speaking at the launch of his biography – ‘KPS Gill: The Paramount Cop’, has lauded Modi in his book.

He says in his book that Modi had ‘sincere’ intentions to end the violence and accused other parties of trying to defame him.

Gill says that the policemen and the administration had become communal after the incident in Godhra and Modi, who had just become the CM, did not have proper grip over the state machinery.

The former Punjab DGP had been appointed as the security advisor to Modi in May, 2002, to bolster efforts to efficiently tackle communal violence in Gujarat.