BJP must come clean on snooping: Tewari

New Delhi – The war of words over the alleged snooping on a young woman by Gujarat Police flared up again Monday with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari demanding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes “clean on this”.

“BJP claims lady protected at father’s behest – Was the threat assessed? Why PSO’s (personnel security officers) not provided? Why court ignominy of being the Stalking Sahebzada,” Tewari said in a comment on Twitter Monday morning.

“This is a breach of civ! ilised behaviour. This is not the way a state behaves,” Tewari later told reporters.

“They (BJP) need to come clean on this and say whether it was an isolated incidence…” he said.

According to investigative reports on two websites, three key wings of Gujarat Police misused their powers to stalk an unmarried young woman from Bangalore in 2009 under orders from then minister of state for home Amit Shah, who reportedly put the woman under surveillance for his “saheb”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party blamed the episode on “dirty tricks department of Congress”.

“Congress is scared of the popularity of Narendra Modi, so their dirty tricks department has become active,” BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad said.

“Has the girl complained? Has the father complained? They are invading the privacy of the lady in question. Their political fortune is declining, this shows the desperation of Congress,” he said.

Asked about the BJP’s claim that the Congress! is invading the woman’s privacy, Tewari said that “it is a concern for! the whole nation”.