Amid chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’, ‘Jo Bole So Nihal’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’ at the Gujarat University Convention Centre here, Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat on Saturday kicked off his three-day fast under the ‘Sadbhavna Mission’.
Equipped with heavy security arrangements, the venue saw heavyweights from the national political scene flying down to join Modi. Senior BJP leader L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, and Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal were present when Modi began his fast this morning.
“This fast is not against anyone. I believe it has more significance than mere words. So far, Gujarat has been known for its model of development, but with the progress of Sadbhavna Mission, days are not far when the world will start recognising our model of peace and brotherhood, too,” said Modi, adding the mission would prove to be a death-blow for the vote-bank politics which had been prevailing in the country for decades.
He said the state government would officially take up the Sadbhavna Mission and reach out to the farthest of villages in Gujarat to spread the message of peace, unity and brotherhood.
Before starting his fast at 10 am this morning, Modi, who turned 62 on Saturday, visited his 92-year old mother, Hiraba in Gandhinagar to seek her blessings.
The dais, as large as the one seen during the bi-annual Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit held in January, saw the presence of state cabinet ministers, religious and political leaders. Religious gurus from different sects, including Islamic leaders and Hindu sadhus, sat on both sides of the chief minister. What’s more, while delivering speeches from the dais, state party workers presented Modi as a prime ministerial candidate, even as party leaders officially kept mum.
Parkash Singh Badal praised Modi’s administration and expressed solidarity in his effort to encourage peace and brotherhood. “We, Punjabi Sikhs, express solidarity with Modi’s fast and support his step towards communal harmony, peace, progress and sadbhavna,” he said, urging Advani to take up similar programmes on a national scale in Delhi. “Modi and Gujarat are the lighthouse for the nation,” he added.
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In his brief address, Advani praised Gujarat’s administration and development model. “Gujarat has zero tolerance towards corruption and terrorism. The state should be a role model for others. The Centre requires similar governance to attain new heights,” he said. He added that all NDA-ruled states gave enough examples of good governance and, at the Centre, too, NDA had given six years of good administration under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Jaitley, on the other hand, informed that Gujarat had emerged as the most favoured place to set up industries in the country and credited Modi for creating conducive environment for investments.
Modi, who has been constantly facing heavy criticism from different segments of society, including political parties and social analysts, recalled every terrorist attack on the state and its resilience to maintain the communal harmony.
“Just a year after the devastating 2001 earthquake, Gujarat witnessed communal violence on a large scale. A year after, we launched the first Investors’ Summit in 2003. Critics said Gujarat had gone back to the path of destruction and would not be able to attract investments. But, we succeeded and have come so far now,” Modi said, adding the state had been resilient towards terrorist attacks in 2003 and 2008 and had not seen communal disturbance due to such incidents.
“People continued throwing stones at us and we built a ladder to success from those stones,” Modi said.
Meanwhile, day one saw veterans from BJP and its allies in attendance. BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sahanawaz Hussain and Smriti Irani were present on the dais. Among the allies, besides SAD’s Badal, AIADMK MPs V Maithreyan and M Thambidurai were present.
Meanwhile, to counter Modi’s fast, Gujarat Congress leaders Shankersinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhvadia started a parallel fast at Sabarmati Ashram here.
Criticising Modi’s fast, which is being held in an air-conditioned hall at the University Convention Centre here, Vaghela asked, “What made the chief minister go on fast? Have the heavens fallen on the citizens of Gujarat?”
The former Gujarat CM and former union textiles minister accused the Gujarat government of being corrupt, apart from being evasive on the Lokayukta issue. “This government is corrupt and has been running away from Lokayukta. We want to show this face of theirs to the people of the country,” said Vaghela.