The Hindu : Modi hits out at NGOs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2003

International

International - India & World

Modi hits out at NGOs

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON AUG. 18. In a swipe at civil rights groups and NGOs, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has called them "five-star activists,'' who have "destroyed India''. He alleged that they received foreign funding, talked about poverty during the day and spent the evenings in five-star hotels.

He did not mention any names, but made the attack while expounding on the benefits from the controversial Narmada dam and other development projects which have attracted opposition.

Addressing a meeting of the "Friends of Gujarat'' here, Mr. Modi also attacked his "secular'' critics for interpreting his actions and remarks as being a "threat to secularism''. He said there had been objections to even the names of some of his Government's projects such as the "Parahamrit Yojna''.

"Some people think that the word is a threat to secularism,'' he said. Objections, he said, had also been raised to his remarks about India's population as they were seen as "anti-secular''. The allusion was to criticism that his comments about population were calculated to raise fears over the growing Muslim population. Mr. Modi otherwise avoided controversies and focussed almost entirely on marketing Gujarat as the ideal destination for NRIs.

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