AHMEDABAD: Modiji his 'sadbhavna' fast, chief minister Narendra Modi made eager attempts to extend an olive branch to the Muslim community, aggrieved by the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.
"If any part of the body is weak, the entire body cannot be termed as healthy. Similarly, if any community is weak in the state, it cannot be considered as a developed state," said Modi who began his three-day Sadbhavna fast for peace, unity and harmony at the Gujarat University convention centre in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The event coincided with his 61st birthday.
The mood was jubilant as people thronged the hall with a capacity of 7,000. Chants of Allahu akbar merged and reverberated with Sanskrit shlokas as Modi started the fast at 10.30am.
Members of the Muslim community, many of whom were shouting slogans in support of the chief minister, were seen in large numbers at the venue. BJP stalwarts, including LK Advani, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shanker Prasad, former BJP president Rajnath Singh and Mukhtar Abas Naqvi were also present. Rajya Sabha member and TV star Smriti 'Tulsi' Irani added the glamour quotient. AIADMK leader M Thambidurai, leader in the Lok Sabha and his counterpart at the Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan were also present.
Apart from office bearers of the BJP, chief minister from Punjab Prakash Singh Badal, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal flew into the city.
On the eve of the fast, Modi had issued a statement which was interpreted as his first sign of regret over the 2002 post-Godhra communal violence. "Constitution of India is supreme for us. As a chief minister of the state, pain of anybody is my pain. Justice to everyone is the duty of the state," Modi had said on Friday.
On Saturday, in his speech, Modi claimed that his government had tried to bring normalcy in the state in 2002. "Innocent people were killed, atmosphere was tense and emotions were running high. The wounds were deep and people said that Gujarat cannot develop now. But people have forgotten the past and development is now the mantra," he said.
He began his speech with a reference to the earthquake in 2001 and then went on to talk about the 2002 riots, the Akshardham attack and even the 2008 blasts in Ahmedabad and added that each time the state rose from the ashes.
Choosing not to directly attack the Congress, Modi said critics had been hurling stones at him and he took them in his stride to save the people of Gujarat. "I gathered these stones and used them to make a ladder of the development for the state."
There was a minor short-circuit when Badal stood up to speak, disrupting the sound. Badal said that in each chief ministers' conference, all eyes were on Narendra Modi "who has always shown path to the people of the country."
Advani said that Gujarat is the only state which had achieved a growth of 11 per cent. "All the NDA ruled stated are examples of good governance and Gujarat was showing the results of being a corruption-free state."
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