Narendra Modi flaunts national ambition in 2011

Ahmedabad, Dec 21: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was newsmaker of the year as he flaunted his national ambition with a Sadhbhavna mission after the Supreme Court granted him relief in a 2002 riot case while his stand-off with the governor on Lokayukta appointment, the Ishrat Jahan and Sanjiv Bhatt cases also grabbed headlines.

IPS officer Bhatt's affidavit in the Supreme Court claiming he was present in the much talked about February 27, 2002 meeting of Modi and senior state police officers in which the chief minister allegedly gave instructions to "allow Hindus to vent their anger and teach Muslims a lesson for Godhra train carnage", created a sensation.

The government was also accused of targeting IPS officers who seemed to be "anti-BJP in the big way through out the years". The year saw judgements coming in the major 2002 riots cases like the Godhra train carnage and the Sardarpura massacre after nine year of the incidents taking place.

The Gujarat High Court also ordered CBI probe in the Ishrat encounter case on December 1, after the SIT constituted by it concluded that the shootout was staged by Gujarat Police. The CBI has registered a FIR in the case.

In the later part of the year, both the Congress and the BJP began preparations and even campaigned for the Assembly polls which are scheduled to be held at the end of next year.

The Supreme Court's decision on September 12 to refer back Zakia Jaffery's complaint that Modi and 61 other including top state politicians, police officers and bureaucrats had conspired the 2002 riots to a magistrate court came as a great relief to the chief minister who on that day said "god is great".

PTI