Modi to observe fast today for Sadbhavna mission

Taking his 'Sadbhavna' mission further, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will observe a one-day fast at Navsari town on Today.

Under the mission which is aimed at propagating peace and harmony, Modi will be observing a series of fasts at 26 districts in future.

Modi, who had observed a three-day fast in Ahmedabad last month, also undertook a day-long fast on Sunday at the temple town of Dwarka in coastal Jamnagar district.

The Chief Minister will tomorrow visit an exhibition depicting development of Gujarat in all fields in the last decade, at the venue of the fast, organisers said.

A series of programmes like 'maha aarti', blood donation camps, besides drawing, essay and painting competitions has been held in the entire district for the past few days to mark the event, they said.

BJP MP CR Patil is overseeing preparations for the event in which thousands of party workers are likely to participate.

Modi will inaugurate a painting exhibition at Tata Hall today and address a meeting.

He will also address ministers and officials of the district at Navsari Circuit House, organisers said.

Advani's yatra an attempt to fast-forward 2014 polls: Congress

The Congress party says that senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani's rath yatra, scheduled to begin Today, had a hidden agenda of trying to force a mid-term poll.

'The objective of the yatra is how 2014 can be fast forwarded to 2012, something which is not going to happen,' Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said at a press briefing at the party headquarters here Monday.

Referring to the four major planks of the yatra - black money, Lokpal, judicial accountability and electoral reforms - Tewari said it was surprising that the BJP, which did not do anything on these issues when it was in power for six years, was raking them up now.

He said the yatra should have begun from either Bangalore or Dehradun, the capitals of the states where BJP had to change their chief ministers following allegations of corruption.

Taking a dig at Advani, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said 'till the time Advani continues to be the prime ministerial candidate, there is no no cause of concern' for the Congress.

'The management of the yatra of Advani or that of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi or Baba Ramdev was with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS),' Singh told reporters here.

'Such yatras are helpful to the RSS as the Sangh and the BJP leaders are expert in collecting contributions for such ventures for their own benefit,' he added.

Narendra Modi to end his fast today

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will end his sadbhavna fast at 5.30 pm today. Six km away from his air-conditioned venue, Congress veteran Shankarsinh Vaghela has a snigger and some criticism.

Mr Vaghela, who is on a counter-fast at the Gandhi Ashram - one that began an hour before Mr Modi's did on Saturday - wants to know why the Gujarat Chief Minister will not fast for a full 72 hours to make it a three-day fast as he had promised. The Congressman, who was once Mr Modi's RSS colleague, will break his fast at 10 am on Tuesday.

Criticism for Mr Modi has not been uncommon over the weekend as the man of the moment launched the grand show in an overt effort to change his image and gain wider political acceptance to prepare for the national stage. Though the top BJP leadership has rallied around him and some allies turned up to endorse him, others like the JD(U) have questioned his national acceptance, the Congress has called his fast a "drama".

Gujarat riot victims have slammed the fast as a spectacle to whitewash Mr Modi's image. Sunday, Day 2 of his fast, saw much action with the police detaining riot victims and activists Mallika Sarabhai and Mukul Sinha in Naroda Patiya as they protested against the CM's fast. Naroda Patiya, about 8 km from the fast site at Gujarat University Convention hall, had witnessed the worst riots incident in 2002, when more than 90 people were killed.

The BJP's quick defence in spokesperson Prakash Javedekar's words: "There is a gang that is defaming Gujarat for the last one decade and they are doing it for their own political purpose, but they are getting defeated everywhere. People are coming so it is not just one person (Vastanvi) who is speaking the truth about the people of Gujarat. It is about thousands of Muslims who are doing it and participating in it. It's for a political purpose and a mischievous campaign and just to disturb and distort for which the police has to take a call."

On Monday, top BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is expected to join Mr Modi at the venue of his fast. And Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has taken off from Mumbai airport to meet Mr Modi on the last day of his fast.

On Saturday, Day 1, also Mr Modi's 61st birthday a veritable pantheon of BJP leaders and those of its allies shared stage with Modi, felicitating him and praising him for Gujarat's development.

The 2002 Gujarat riots remain the one big blemish on Mr Modi's career, and with his amity mission, fast to promote communal harmony and open letters to the people of his state, many say the Gujarat Chief Minister's attempt for sadbhavna is a careful image-altering exercise as he gets set for the national stage in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Modi reached out to a fair sprinkling of Muslims at his fast and spoke of inclusive plans. But his attempt at emerging as the first among equals in the BJP needs acceptance across the political spectrum. Though the Akali Dal and the AIADMK backed Modi's fast, he faces stiff competition for the top job from ally JD(U) who doesn't back him as Nitish Kumar is a claimant for the same job.

The fast was the result of a defining last week for the Gujarat Chief Minister. The Supreme Court transferred a Gujarat-riots-related case to a lower court in the state and Narendra Modi tweeted, "God is Great". Suddenly, from a US think tank to BJP patriarch LK Advani, there was talk about Narendra Modi, possible future Prime Minister.

The three-day fast is all about Modi. He is the actor, director and script writer of the show. There are no BJP flags, no hoardings with smiling faces of Vajpayee, Advani and Gadkari. It signals that there is room for just one leader at the top in the party. Modi has taken the head start saying two is a crowd.

Narendra Modi start three-day Sadbhavana fasts from today

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, celebrating his 61st birthday on today, will begin his three-day Sadbhavana fast in a shortwhile from now to promote “peace, harmony and unity” in the state. Modi, who will fast at Convocation Hall of Gujarat University, has reached the venue.

“I deeply believe that this fast will further strengthen Gujarat's environment of peace, unity and harmony,” the chief minister said.

"The unhealthy environment created by the unfounded and false allegations made against me and government of Gujarat, after 2002 riots, has come to an end," Modi said in a letter to the people of Gujurat.

Modi announced his move to sit on fast after the Supreme Court earlier this week refused to pass any order on the alleged inaction of the Gujarat CM to contain the 2002 communal riots which followed the Godhra carnage and referred the matter back to the trial court in Ahmedabad.

On the eve of his three-day fast, Modi expressed confidence that his mission would lend further strength to the nation's unity in diversity. He expressed sadness for the life lost in the Gujarat riots.

"India and Gujarat have realised that casteism and communal fanaticism does not serve anybody. Gujarat has risen over the distortions in society and national life to march on to the path of progress, peace, unity, harmony and brotherhood," he said in an official release.

"Gujarat has come out of those dark days and is progressing on the path of development. The later atmosphere of peace, unity, harmony and brotherhood has fuelled the growth of Gujarat,” the release added.

The fast is poised to be a grand affair with the state government making all arrangements, including putting in place five-tier security, for the event that will see the BJP top brass attending the event.

A galaxy of BJP leaders, including senior party leader LK Advani, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Premkumar Dhumal, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, BJP national vice-presidents Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kalraj Mishra, general secretaries Vijay Goel, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudi and Mahila Morcha president and MP Smriti Irani among others, are attending the grand political event.

AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has dispatched two emissaries -- M Thambidurai and V Maitreyan -- to extend her support to Modi’s fast.

Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal Prakash Singh Badal will be personally present on the first day of the fast.

It has become a fast-versus-fast affair in Gujarat. Prior to Modi beginning his fast, senior Congress leader Shankarsingh Vaghela, surrounded by Congressmen in Gandhi caps, launched his parallel fast at the Gandhi Ashram to counter that of the Gujarat CM.

Godhra riots: Modi govt targets another top cop

The Gujarat government hauled up another senior police officer of the state cadre for indiscipline in connection with the investigations of the the 2002 Godhra riots.

According to reports, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DGP) Rahul Sharma has been served with a chargesheet that accuses him of indiscipline during the probe into the riots.

Sources said that Sharma is to be chargesheeted under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly passing on crucial information about the post Godhra riots to Nanavati Commission and the Supre Court appointed Special Investigation Team .

Sharma had earlier told the SIT that phone records in the Naroda Patia case were destroyed.

Sharma is the second Indian Police Service (IPS) officer to be targetted for indiscipline in Gujarat, the first being Sanjiv Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer, who was suspended on Monday by the state Home department in exercise of powers conferred by Rule 3(1) of All India Services (Discipline and Appeals) Rules, 1969.
Bhatt's lawyer had claimed that his client's suspension by the state government was due to a petition filed by him in the Supreme Court and he is weighing legal options to challenge the action.

In his 19-page supplementary affidavit filed before the Supreme Court last week, Bhatt had alleged someone in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing post-Godhra riot cases was leaking sensitive details related to investigations conducted by it to Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta.

Bhatt had earlier accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of misusing the state machinery during post-Godhra riots and of asking police to ignore calls for help from Muslims. Bhatt had alleged in the affidavit before the apex court that he had seen e-mails from SIT probing the riots cases in the personal mail account of Mehta.