New Delhi: Narendra Modi aide and former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah continued to maintain his silence over allegations that he ordered Gujarat Police to spy on a young woman in Bangalore in 2009. Shah who is in Agra overseeing the preparations for a Modi rally refused to speak to the media on the issue.
Shah's refusal to speak even as both the Congress and the National Commission for Women stepped up the attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the latest revelations by two news websites cobrapost.com and Gulail.
Shah's silence, considering that he had aired his views on the allegations in Ishrat Jahan encounter case, has raised eyebrows over the recent controversy.
While the BJP has maintained that the Gujarat government had in no way violated the girl's privacy, there are not many takers.
Trying to corner the BJP over the controversy, Congress even dismissed a statement by the girl's father in which he claimed that the girl in question was aware of snooping.
Union Law and Justice Minister Kapil Sibal said the BJP will need to replace Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. "It is always their stand, to blame the Congress for everything. So what if the father said, it was a oral order. The BJP and Modi don't respect institutions. There is a Supreme Court judgement. We have to strengthen anti-snooping laws even further. Mark my words, BJP will be forced to change the PM candidate," said Sibal.
The father of the woman has written to the NCW rejecting the need for an investigation into the matter.
In his letter dated November 17 the father said that his daughter was aware of the surveillance and that there was no invasion of her privacy. He mentions that he had personally asked Modi to put his daughter under surveillance.
The father also accuses vested interests in the media of raking up the issue and urges the NCW to ensure that the matter is not discussed any further in the media.
In a statement to the media, the father of the young architect wrote that his daughter was aware of the surveillance. He asked for her privacy to be respected and urged the NCW in Gujarat and in New Delhi not to seek more details on the case.
Two news websites cobrapost.com and Gulail said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has audio tapes that allegedly reveal Amit Shah instructing police officers to tail the woman at all times, as insisted upon by "saheb". The Congress alleges that the "saheb" refers to Modi.
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