Kodnani’s political career set for revival after acquittal

With her acquittal in the second and last case against her in the 2002 riots cases, doors are now open for former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Maya Kodnani to stage a comeback in Gujarat’s active politics, a decade after her political graph nosedived following allegations related to the post-Godhra communal violence.

Gujarat BJP leaders on Friday said if the physician-turned-politician, once a member of the powerful Narendra Modi ministry in the state and rising star in politics, wants to return to active politics, the saffron party will definitely assign work to her.

On Thursday, Kodnani, 68, was acquitted by a special court in the February 28, 2002, Naroda Gam riots case in which 11 members of a minority community were burnt to death and their houses set on fire by a mob enraged by the burning of Sabarmati Express train near Godhra a day earlier that killed 59 passengers.

This was the second and final riots case in which she was named an accused. Earlier, the only BJP minister named in the violence was cleared in the Naroda Patiya case.

Before her acquittal in the Naroda Gam case, Kodnani was in April 2018 cleared by the Gujarat High Court in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre. As many as 97 people were killed during riots in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya area and in the case she was dubbed a “kingpin” by a special court that sentenced her to life imprisonment in August 2012, but the verdict was overturned by the HC.

Both areas are part of the Assembly constituency once represented by the BJP leader.

Soon after her acquittal by the HC, Kodnani, an Ahmedabad resident and three-time former MLA, was seen at some of the BJP functions in the state. During the campaign for the December 2022 Assembly elections, the former MLA was spotted at BJP functions, sharing dais with top party leadership where she was greeted with zeal.

With inputs from News18