Thaindian News

Ahmedabad, Sep 19 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday evening ended a three-day fast asserting that he was the first leader in six decades of independent India to deliver genuine good governance.

Addressing thousands at the Gujarat University hall here, Modi repeatedly harped on the widely acclaimed economic progress Gujarat has made since he became chief minister a decade ago.

In the process, but without taking anyone’s name, he insisted that no other government in India had achieved what he had by transforming Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.

Modi gave no credit to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or any of his colleagues for the Gujarat success story that has been noted both in India and abroad, including by the World Bank.

But even as the fast for promoting amity ended, it was clear that the purpose had not been achieved. Both BJP critics and leading Muslim leaders accused Modi of trying to cover up his role in the 2002 riots of Gujarat.

Lucknow-based Shia scholar Maulana Kalbe Jawaad asked Modi that if he wanted to be pardoned simply by staging a fast, whether the same treatment could be extended to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab if he too fasted.

Kasab is the only one of 10 Pakistani terrorists who was captured after the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai that left 166 people dead and almost sent India and Pakistan to war.

“Modi’s crime cannot be condoned because he observes a fast. I appeal to all Muslims and Hindus to simultaneously observe ‘roza’ and ‘upvas’ (fast) seeking divine intervention to ensure punishment for the man responsible for the killing of innocent Muslims in Gujarat,” he said.

In his nationally televised speech, Modi took a swipe at his own political tribe, saying most politicians were only keen to win the next election.

“This is how politicians work. They are swayed by vote bank politics. This is how programmes are made,” he said in chaste Hindi.

“This is how 60 years have been spent. Gujarat has come out of this (model). We will not run a government only to win elections. Today we have shown the real path of development.”

Seated on the stage were BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and M. Venkaiah Naidu, who heard the comment with blank expression on their faces. Others on the stage included Hindu and Muslim religious leaders.

And although Modi did not speak about his widely speculated national ambitions, he sought to underline what had gone wrong with India and its leaders.

India and Indians, Modi complained, had stopped dreaming.

“This is the root of all our problems. China has big dreams, America has big dreams…”

A little later, he emphasized how different he was from all other politicians and governments India had seen.

The chief minister said he too could have run a government in a “routine manner”.

“Others made roads, we too could have (been satisfied by making) roads. Others built hospitals, we too could have built hospitals…

“We did not think that way. We decided to bring about changes. We decided to awaken our energy… Uniting the people with development programmes was my only mantra.”

His mantra, he said, was to involve people in development schemes and to usher in a new work culture.

“The mood of despondency in the county has been changed by Gujarat,” he said. “What people say is impossible (elsewhere in India), Gujarat has made it possible.”

Modi said his “Sadbhavana mission” should not be seen from a political prism. “My fast may have ended but my mission has not.”

He made no reference to the 2002 communal violence that engulfed Gujarat but declared that his government did not frame politics for “minorities” or the majority community.

“All my people are mine. All their sorrow is mine. Their joy is mine. Their dreams are mine.”

Speaking after her arrival here, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said Modi’s government was not biased against Muslims.

“Gujarat is a state where there is no discrimination against Muslims. No plan is made thinking whether Hindus will benefit or Muslims,” she said.