LK Advani cites Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's book to defend Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader LK Advani has come out in support of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In his personal blog, Mr Advani claimed Mr Modi has been a victim of a vicious campaign to malign him. He alleged that the media has been biased while reporting on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's book where he has spoken at length about the 2002 Gujarat riots.

He said he was surprised to see reports in the media where then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee 'was being found fault with for trying to protect the Narendra Modi Government'. He wrote, "I have often felt that in India's political history no political leader has been as systematically and viciously maligned as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Bhai Modi. Do not these reports also reveal a conscious effort at vilification: the Prime Ministers casual query Do you consider going to Gujarat at this time essential as the PM wanting to stop the President from going to Gujarat?"

He also wrote, "Dr Kalam has also referred to apprehensions he had heard that his visit may be boycotted. Dr Kalam's actual experience was totally different. Modi and his government enthusiastically cooperated with Dr Kalam. Yet no newsman thought it worthwhile to report these complimentary observations of his!"