After his hardline talk sparked an outrage, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi provoked him to rake up Hindutva during the poll campaign and asserted that he was and always will be a law abiding citizen.
Modi also said it is his democratic duty to tell the truth to people and asserted that hostile reactions to his statements on Sohrabuddin reeked of pseudo-secularism.
"I will reply to whatever issues the Congress raises and will speak in the same language and I have a right to defend myself," Modi told a news channel onboard his specially customised vehicle in the midst of his campaign for the two-phase elections.
Modi said his poll agenda was only to raise developmental issues but he was compelled to play the Hindutva card when Sonia called him 'merchant of death'.
The chief minister's justification of the Sohrabuddin fake encounter killing had provoked angry condemnations from the Left and the Congress and social activists amid demands that Modi be booked for his controversial utterances.
Modi said there was no issue about police encounters but what needed to be debated is the issue of fake police encounters.
"I do not justify fake police encounters," he added.