Narendra Modi today said he was never silent on the 2002 Gujarat riots, but no one ever tried to understand the truth, which he blamed on a conspiracy.

Talking to a news agency in New Delhi today, the BJP leader said that on the riots he has answered every top journalist in the country from 2002 to 2007, but there was no exercise to understand the truth.

Modi has expressed regret for the riots in Gujarat, which he has ruled since 2001, but has not apologised.

A Supreme Court appointed probe panel found no evidence of his alleged complicity in the riots, and a Gujarat court agreed with that assessment last year.

However, Modi's critics accuse him of not doing enough to check the riots.