ID :
207452
Thu, 09/15/2011 - 22:43
Auther :

Cong ridicules Modi's "five star fast, plans counter fast

Ahmedabad, Sep 15 (PTI) Western Indian state Gujarat
Congress leaders Thursday dubbed Chief Minister Narendra
Modi's "five star" fast beginning on Saturday for three days
as a "gimmick" and in a counter move announced plans for a
parallel fast during the same period.
Shankarsinh Vaghela, a Congress leader, claimed that all
what Modi wants to do is to project himself as a "messiah" of
the minorities by undertaking the proposed fast for peace,
harmony and unity in the state coinciding with his 61st
birthday.
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president
Arjun Modhvadia will also take part in the Congress fast to be
held on the footpath outside Sabarmati Ashram, abode of
Mahatma Gandhi during pre-independence days.
Modi also came under criticism from his staunch critic
Mallikha Sarabhai, a noted danseuse, and Gordhanbhai Zadaphia,
a former minister in his cabinet who fell out with him.
Sarabhai said his proposed fast was a "cheap joke" and
"a circus" and she would instead feed children from the slums
during the three days of Modi's fast (September 17-19).
Sarabhai said that by way of protest, she would provide
nutritious meals two times a day to 200 malnourished children
from the city slums during.
Zadaphia called the fast a "political stunt". He also did
not spare Vaghela , saying he is is doing another stunt. "They
are making a mockery of a fast," he added.
"The Gujarat chief minister, interpreting the Supreme
Court order as he has been declared innocent, has announced a
three-day fast. Now, he wants to project himself as a messiah
of minorities by undertaking such a fast and wants to show
that he is their protector," Vaghela told reporters.
"If there is a justifiable cause for fast by the chief
minister, we can understand it. But he is saying that this
fast is for sadbhavna. But his fast is based on farce,
falsehood and corruption," Vaghela claimed.
"Our fast will be held on the footpath outside Sabarmati
ashram and will be a fast of the common man but the fast of
Modi will be a five star air-conditioned fast as he is
planning to do it in the convention hall of Gujarat
University," he said.

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