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Modi determined to take out Gaurav Yatra

"I am determined to take out the yatra and tell the world the Gaurav Gatha [Story of Pride] of five crore people of the state. It is not the story of Godhra, Naroda Patia or Gulmarg. Gujarat was not a state of murderers, rapists as the pseudo-secularists, fanatic and power hungry Congress leaders are attempting to project," he said.

The aim of the yatra was to check such "misleading propaganda", Modi said, addressing a series of functions in the border district of Banaskantha on Saturday.

Modi's remarks assume significance since he had touted the peaceful conduct of the Jagannath Rath Yatra sometime back as a major sign of normalcy being restored in the riot-hit state.

The opposition parties voiced concern that the yatra would stoke communal passion and Congress president Sonia Gandhi even shot off a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to persuade Modi to call of the programme.

"Gujarat was the land of Lord Krishna who settled at Dwarka after annihilating the enemy with his Sudarshan Chakra," Modi said.

"Gujarat is a leading state in several fields, a pioneer in cooperative movement, now giving shape to an engineering feat by building the multi-purpose Sardar Sarovar Narmada Project," he said.

Modi said he was confident that the people would not side with those who spared no effort to "belittle Gujarat's image and to deny them the right to exercise their franchise".

The chief minister also charged the Congress with having left behind a huge debt, which the successive governments were finding difficult to repay.

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