Modi's governance, development stories only myths: Anhad

Socio-cultural organisation Anhad Tuesday accused BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of projecting an "unreal" image of himself on the national stage.

Anhad said stories of Modi having given good governance, ushering development and ensuring transparency were "myths" propagated by hired public relations agencies.

"Modi is being projected nationally as a leader who is clean, charismatic and a visionary. An image of a new leader is being created by hired PR agencies and event management companies. But facts expose the myths of Modi's governance, development and transparency," Anhad founder-trustee Shabnam Hashmi told media persons here.

Refering to Modi's 34 "Sadhbhavna Upvas" (fast) programmes in Gujarat between September 2011 and February 2012, Hashmi said the events were organised by diverting huge amounts of funds from departments for projecting the chief minister.

"The first three programmes were held illegally, without any approval or by following government rules and regulations. Till date, the accounts have not been settled."

Hashmi said crores were spent on hiring buses, while one of the programmes saw an expense of Rs.28,800 for buying white skull caps "to show that Muslims were taking part".

Hashmi ridiculed Modi's Gujarat growth story, and said: "Even in Modi's constituency of Motinagar, a large section of the population do not have water or drainage."

"He has only spent crores on building his case as a successful chief minister and a prime ministerial candidate. Crores have been squandered to boost his image."

Asked how Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party were winning election after election in Gujarat, notwithstanding such allegations, she said: "When in a country, right wing forces are on the rise, all logic fails. The RSS and its other arms have played a big role in communalizing the minds of the people, particularly the youth."

She alleged that contrary to the propaganda in various parts of the country, several low intensity riots have occurred in Gujarat in recent years.

"It is not that there were no riots after 2002. The minorities are constantly under attack from right wing forces championed by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar."

"These facts are not reported by the media," she said.

Hashmi said democracy and secularism were under threat as "the spectre of the country's descent into fascism stares at us".