Modi ends fast

PTI

Ahmadabad, 20 September 2011: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi ended his three-day “Sadbhavna” fast on Monday evening. Addressing thousands after ending his three-day fast here, Mr. Modi repeatedly harped on the widely recognized economic progress Gujarat has made since he became chief minister a decade ago.

 

In the process, but without taking anyone’s name, he insisted that no other government anywhere in India had managed to achieve what he had by transforming Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.

 

His mantra, he said, was to involve people in development schemes and to usher in a new work culture. “The mood of despondency in the county has been changed by Gujarat,” he said, speaking in chaste Hindi. “What people say is impossible (elsewhere in India), Gujarat has made it possible.”

 

 

Saying most politicians were only interested in winning the next election, Mr. Modi said, “This is how politicians work. They are swayed by vote bank politics. This is how programmes are made.

 

“This is how 60 years have been spent. Gujarat has come out of this (model). We will not run a government only to win elections. Today we have shown the real path of development.”

 

Flanked by other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the stage, Mr. Modi said India and Indians had stopped dreaming. “This is the root of all our problems. China has big dreams, America has big dreams...”

 

Mr. Modi said his “Sadhbhavana Mission” — the name given for his fast undertaken to promote amity — should not be seen from a political prism. “My fast may have ended but my mission has not.”

 

He made no reference to the 2002 communal violence that engulfed Gujarat but declared that his government did not frame politics for “minorities” or the majority community. “All my people are mine. All their sorrow is mine. Their joy is mine. Their dreams are mine.”