BJP MP Varun Gandhi has said that a person could not be held guilty just on the basis of one article. He was referring to party president Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, whose firm, Temple Enterprise Private Limited, had allegedly increased its turnover 16,000 times since Narendra Modi became the prime minister in 2014.
This was alleged in an article published by website The Wire.
Varun said that an ‘absolutist’ position on any issue could not be taken based on one article.
“My broad generalisation is just because one person has written an article does not make a person guilty, without evidence and without giving them a fair (chance),” he was quoted by PTI.
Varun’s’s statement came as an answer to a question posed by a student of NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad over the government absolving Jay Shah without an investigation.
“I am not defending anybody. I am not attacking anybody and I am not speaking about one person,” the MP from Sultanpur said.
“My point is that everybody needs to have their say if there is any discrepancy then that is a different matter. But, just because one person has raised a finger against somebody does not make anybody guilty. You and I both know that media can often be wrong,” he said.
He further said the interpretations of the media could also go wrong and can be incorrect. “My point is let us not take any absolutists position, sooner or later everything becomes transparent,” he said.
Jay Shah has sued the news website in question for 100 crores for reporting that his firm’s revenues escalated by 16,000 times after the BJP came to power. The report also questioned allegedly unsecured loans given to Jay Shah’s firms, including from a state-run firm that reports to the Power Ministry.
