Modi ends fast, to take 'Sadbhavna Mission' to all Gujarat districts

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj took a dig at Centre for its anti-Modi approach.

Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi ended his fast on Monday evening by taking lemon juice from the hands of religious leaders of all sects in presence of top BJP leaders including Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj.

Ending his 3-day fast under his 'Sadbhavna Mission', Modi also announced that his 'Mission' of brotherhood, unity and peace would continue with him reaching out to every district of the state. "After the three-day Sadbhavna fast, I will spend one day in each and every district of Gujarat and will fast on that day as well. Because from my fast, I have seen the fruits and force of unity, brotherhood and peace," said Modi, who had been fasting since September 17, 2011.

Three days of fast under 'Sadbhavna Mission' was announced soon after the Supreme Court's judgement on 2002's post-Godhra riots. The Supreme Court on Monday had refused to pass any order on Narendra Modi's alleged inaction during the 2002 riots.

"My government does not work for minority or for majority. My government works for six crore Gujaratis. I do not discriminate between majority and minority," Modi added.

Attributing Gujarat's development to the people's participation, Modi said, "We needed to take people along for the development of the country. It's not about the peace of majority. Everybody wants peace, especially poor people. All the people has been leading a peaceful life in Gujarat for the last few years."

Taking a dig at Congress for criticising for Modi's anti-minority image, Sushma Swaraj, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha called the apex court's judgement as a win for the truth. "Modi runs all the development programmes for all his citizens without differentiating them with minority or majority. He has been ruling with 'sadbhav' for past 10 years," she said. Swaraj, who was in Ahmedabad to greet Modi for his Sadbhavna Mission also took note of the Centre's biased and unconstitutional approach especially with regard to the appointment of Lokayukta in Gujarat. "When the Centre has to appoint a Lokpal, it wants a brigade of government representatives present in the panel, while the appointment of Lokayukta in Gujarat was made by keeping the chief minister of the state in dark, which is unconstitutional," she said.

Meanwhile Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday said that Modi could become a good prime minister and MNS would be happy to support him. "Modi could become a good Prime Minister and my party will support him. In fact, anybody who wants to work hard for the people of the country can become a good PM," he said, when asked if he considered Modi to be a Prime Minister material. It may be mentioned here that Thackeray had visited Gujarat some time back to see the development in the state first-hand, and had praised Modi's leadership.

Political leaders like Venkaiah Naidu, former party president, Arjun Munda, chief minister of Jharkhand and BJP MP Gopinath Munde remained present during the day.