The Hindu : Poor response to resumed rath yatra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 17, 2002

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Poor response to resumed rath yatra

By Manas Dasgupta

PORBANDAR OCT. 16. A very poor response marked the launching of the fifth leg of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's "gaurav rath yatra'' at Porbandar today. The yatra resumed after a 10-day break due to the Navratri festival.

Despite the party's efforts to collect fishermen from all along the 1,600-km coastline, just about 5,000 people attended the launching ceremony, by far the poorest turnout.

The Congress, on its part, began the "Jan Sampark Abhiyan'' (public contact) simultaneously from four corners of the State to cover 182 Assembly constituencies by October 31.

The former PCC president, Amarsinh Chaudhary, launched a special programme to hold sammelans of tribals in different districts during the next 10 days in a bid to woo the tribal voters who participated in the recent communal riots and showed signs of shifting to the BJP.

Mr. Modi said that while the Congress had converted the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi into a "mafia raj,'' the BJP had worked to free Porbandar from that culture.

He said it was due to the BJP Government's efforts that the people in Porbandar were able to move around freely without any fear of being attacked by the mafia dons.

The Chief Minister accused Pakistan of trying to send terrorists into the State through the coastal belt. He said his Government had successfully repulsed all such efforts and would continue to guard the coastline. "We will not allow Pakistan to succeed in its design to convert Gujarat into another Kashmir,'' he said.

The BJP national general secretary, Sunil Shastri, who flagged off the yatra, created a stir among the audience by claiming that he saw in Mr. Modi "qualities'' of three illustrious leaders — Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and his father, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

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Poor response to resumed rath yatra