Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Wednesday said he was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response from the minorities -- Muslims and Christians -- to his Bharat Uday Yatra that traversed the four southern states in the last seven days.
Complete coverage of Advani's yatra
Speaking to the media at Hyderabad before resuming his yatra in Andhra Pradesh, Advani said, "I am gratified by the huge turnout at all the places where the yatra halted."
Advani recalled that he got similar responses when he had taken out yatras in 1990 and 1997.
"Making India a developed country by 2020 and making it a global power appeals to the chord of every Indian and makes them proud and that has evoked this kind of response for this yatra," he said.
He assailed critics who had expressed apprehensions about the outbreak of communal tension during his 33-day long journey.
"There is no distinction," he said and claimed the turnout was huge even at wholly Muslim-dominated areas. "I was amazed to see the response at Hubli (in Karnataka), where there is tension between Hindus and Muslims over an Idgah Maidan."
He pointed out that he saw a perceptible change among the attitude of Muslims towards the BJP. "Very large sections of Muslims do feel that for many years, opponents of the BJP have created an image about the BJP, which is totally different from the reality they have seen. Therefore, they feel that they have been taken for a ride for the sheer sake of their votes. The parties that opposed the BJP when they were ruling the country did not care for the welfare of the minorities. They were interested only in their votes," he said.
Advani said that had there been no Godhra there would have been no riots in Gujarat. "Worse than Gujarat disturbances was the attack on Akshardham temple but the alert state government took steps to suppress any reaction to this," he explained.
