Karnataka BJP MLA wants Gujarat model in Uttar Pradesh

Bengaluru: Defending his “controversial” tweet advocating “Gujarat model” to stem the Saharanpur riots, BJP MLA and the party’s national executive member C.T. Ravi on Monday said that his intention was not to inflame communal passions but to help Uttar Pradesh government control communal violence.

“My intention was not to inflame communal passions, but to make a point that the Gujarat model would help the UP government in controlling communal violence,” he told reporters over a brewing controversy on his tweet on Sunday.

“Since 2002, not a single communal incident took place in Gujarat as the government there has taken serious action to control it. That was my intention behind the tweet,” Mr Ravi said.

The BJP MLA had on  Sunday tweeted, “Only the Gujarat model, that worked from 2002 in containing their rioting elements, can work. Apply across Bharat.”

Mr Ravi also clarified that the then Gujarat government, headed by Nare-ndra Modi, had taken some preventive measur-es to control communal violence by arresting more than 20,000 people.

The state had also clamped curfew and issued shoot-at-sight orders, Mr Ravi said. “Such steps... Uttar Pradesh government should have taken to curb communal violence,” he added
Responding to Delhi-based lawyer and activist Shehzad Poonawalla petitioning the National Hu-man Rights Commission on the alleged “inflammatory” tweets, he said, “If I am summoned, I will answer the questions and clear my stand.”