Salman Khurshid apologises for Gopalgarh riots in Rajasthan

External affairs minister Salman Khurshid has extended his apologies to the minorities affected by the Gopalgarh incident in the state.

Calling state government’s efforts to console minorities as insufficient, Khurshid said that minorities should have been consoled in better way through a dialogue. He was speaking at a press meet at PCC office in the city on Wednesday.

Calling the Gopalgarh incident as not the first or the last incident in the country, Khurshid said more efforts need to be made by the government to console the affected.

Taking this as an opportunity, he apologised to the minority on the Gopalgarh firing incident. “I extend my apologies to the minorities affected by the Gopalgarh incident,” said Khurshid. While praising Congress party’s policy of taking all sections of the society with it, he said that if there is love and affection between the party and all sections of the society, there is no need of apologies.

At the meet, Khurshid also lambasted BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Godhra riots and other issues. While calling Modi a ‘coward’, Khurshid condemned him.

Recalling the latest incident of felicitation of two BLP MLAs allegedly involved in Muzaffarnagar communal riots, Khurshid said that Modi did not have the guts to either felicitate or refuse to felicitate the duo at the Agra rally. “Modi wants to show himself as having a clean image,” said Khurshid.

He also took the occasion to answer criticisms made by BJP over inflation and said that though there is price rise, the country’s growth rate has also improved.

Meanwhile, he also rebuked BJP for criticising the Centre’s foreign policy and held that over a hundred nations of the world follow India as their model. He also denied all charges of a Congress minister allegedly giving shelter to Tehelka’s editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal.