GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTEER MODI BEGAN THREE DAY FAST

GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTEER MODI

 BEGAN THREE DAY FAST

Fighting hard to remove the taint of 2002 violence, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday,17^th Sptember,2011, began a three-day fast for peace and communal harmony vowing to end votebank politics but said nothing directly by way of regret for the post-Godhra carnage. Buoyed by the Supreme Court's refusal to pass any order against him in the Ehsan Jafri murder case and words of praise from a US Congressional report, Modi sat on fast on his birthday in the air-conditioned Gujarat University Convention Centre flanked by top BJP and allied party leaders.

"I had said at that time (2002) these riots should not have happened in a civilised society. At that time I had felt the pain and now also I am feeling the pain," he said in his speech to an audience that had a sprinkling of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs among others. Often attacked for his alleged complicity in the violence that shook Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express carnage, Modi did not directly offer any regret or apology but said that he wanted to ensure that Gujarat never slips below parameters of humanity.

Modi marked his 62nd birthday by taking blessings from his mother before beginning the fast, which was countered by Shankarsinh Vaghela who staged a hunger strike on a footpath near Sabarmati Ashram near Gandhinagar in the company of Congress leaders and workers. Top BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Muktar Abbas Naqvi and Rajiv Pratap Rudy were on the stage along with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, AIADMK leaders M Thambidurai and V Maitreyan. But BJP's longtime ally JD(U) was conspicuous by its absence.

The venue, Gujarat University Convention Centre here - where a host of leaders from the BJP and its key ally Shiromani Akali Dal have arrived - has been put under strict vigil by the police. On the eve of fast, Modi had issued a statement that 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 in the state is my pain. (Delivering) Justice to everyone is the duty of the state," Modi had said Modi, in an attempt to reach out to the minority community, had said the state has realised that communal frenzy and casteism never helped anybody grow in the country and expressed "gratitude" to those who pointed out his mistakes in the last 10 years.

BJP leaders like L K Advani, Arun Jaitely, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Sahanawaz Hussain, Smriti Irani and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal, among others, were present when Modi began his fast. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose party Shiromani Akali Dal is a key member of the BJP-led NDA, was also present. Leaders of Shiv Sena, BJP's ally for over two decades, and emissaries of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha of AIADMK are also expected to come here to in support of Modi.

In response to Modi's move, Gujarat Congress leaders Shankarsinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhvadia also started their fast on a footpath in front of Sabarmati Ashram.

                                                      Prof. John Kurakar