Congress: Modi’s fast was a joke

Senior Congress leader Shankar Singh Vaghela, who had gone on a parallel fast to counter the one by Gujarat CM, said on Tuesday that ‘Sadbhavana’ is not a mission and that Narendra Modi’s fast was a joke.

Vaghela, a former RSS prachark like Modi, said, “Fast, if not used for the right cause backfires. Their fast has turned out to be a joke. How can Sadbhavana be a mission? It has to be the way of life of an individual”

“My fast is the real fast, it is not a festival. Why is AC needed for fasting?” Vaghela said, adding, “Why didn’t he (Modi) not hold on to the promise of fasting for 72 hours, why didn’t they stick to it?”

Vaghela, state party president Arjun Modhvadia and other senior party leaders have fasted for three days.

The Congress had dubbed Modi's fast as "five star" as it being held in an air-conditioned hall. Vaghela and Modhvadia are sitting on a footpath in front of Sabarmati Ashram, the Opposition leaders pointed out.

On Modi’s plan to hold sadbhavana fast in all 26 districts of the state, Vaghela said, “People were brought in (for Modi’s fast); they were given food and then beaten up.”

Alleging that crores of public money has been wasted by the state government to make Chief Minister’s fast a success, Vaghela said that the Congress will demand a white paper on the expenditure incurred.

“Why does Modi fear the Lokayukta?”Vaghela added while attacking the CM.