30.9.13

Somewhere in Mumbai....


Huge crowds greeted Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai on Monday. However, air passengers and road commuters bore the brunt of the enthusiasm as a massive snarl spilled over from the airport to a few kilometres on both flanks of the Western Express Highway (WEH). Massive jams were also reported from BKC, where Modi—accompanied by his cavalcade—went later.
Launching a fresh attack on the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, Modi accused it of misusing the CBI to target him and asserted that he would not be cowed down by such threats. “The government in Delhi wants to stop our march to power. They have fielded the CBI to threaten us. CBI can silence Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati but not me,” he said addressing BJP supporters at the airport.
The BKC show, ostensibly staged by the diamond merchants of Bharat Diamond Bourse, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and the Mumbai Diamond Merchants’ Association, turned into a show of strength and unity by the saffron alliance. Every BJP leader worth his or her salt, from Gopinath Munde to Jaywantiben Mehta, from Mahesh Jethmalani to Kirit Somaiya to Ashish Shelar, was there. But politically much more significant was the presence of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, who was accompanied by his family, especially given the perceived closeness between Modi and MNS leader Raj Thackeray and the seeming initial frostiness between the Sena and Modi.


Modi urged Mumbaikars to vote for the BJP to facilitate the country’s overall development. Slamming the Congress-led UPA for lack of vision, he said, “In the next six months, India will be free of the inauspicious eclipse (the UPA regime) of the last nine years. The Congress gave empty promises to people. They kept saying that prices of essential commodities will come down and that the financial situation will improve. However, the rupee is in the ICU and the financial crisis is worsening by the day. People have shown great endurance in suffering the UPA. Now they want a change and the BJP will bring about that change.”
Accusing the Congress of fomenting communal trouble, Modi said the country’s youth could no longer be misled by communal or casteist agenda. “Those who trigger communal hatred or try to create social strife in the name of caste are caught in a time warp. They belong to the 1970s and ’80s,” he said. “The Congress has been maligning me. You browse Google and you will find reams and reams of hate campaign spearheaded against me by the Congress. But I have a positive mind. My agenda is India’s development and the BJP alone can take the country on the path of progress.”
Modi paid glowing tributes to Sardar Patel. He undertook the splendid task of unifying India after Independence but the Congress systematically ignored the role of the ‘Iron Man’ in modern India, he said. The Gujarat government will set up a Sardar Patel memorial near Sardar Sarovar. Modi urged countrymen to contribute a piece of iron for the memorial. The Gujarat CM was weighed in silver which he contributed to the Sardar Patel memorial trust. 

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