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Modi resumes Gujarat Gaurav Yatra with resolve to stamp out terrorism

Modi, who piloted the yatra to highlight 'Gujarat's pride', said "Post-Godhra violence would not have taken place if the Congress and pseudo-secularists had not defamed the karsevaks."

"Congress leaders are hell bent on playing vote-bank politics and have been talking the language of Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf," Modi thundered.

He said it was the state's misfortune that the Congress could not live up to its role of a responsible opposition.

Addressing women, gathered to attend a mahila sammelan (women's conference) at the foothills of Arasur Hills, on which the Ambaji temple is located, Modi listed out a number of developmental works undertaken by his government for their upliftment, especially in the education sector.

At the same time, he claimed that the Congress had not been sincere in ensuring 33 per cent reservation for women in state legislatures and in Parliament.

Modi resumed the journey on his motorised chariot, fitted with a hydraulic elevator, in the presence of party leaders, including Union Minister Uma Bharati, BJP's national general secretary Anita Arya, state unit chief Rajendrasinh Rana and state ministers.

He had floated the idea of the yatra to 'revive the state's pride in the wake of the unprecedented criticism of Gujarat following the post-Godhra violence'.

In her address, Uma Bharti alleged the Akshardham attack would not have happened if the assembly election was not postponed. "Emboldened by the opposition campaign that Gujarat was abnormal, anti-India forces undertook such acts of terrorism," she said.

Charging Shankersingh Vaghela with being a 'betrayer and manipulative person' by nature, she said, henceforth, instead of being known as 'Bapu', his pet name, Vaghela should be "rechristened as Shakuni mama" (after the famous character in the epic 'Mahabharata').

"Vaghela has been a blot for the BJP and rightfully found a place in the Congress dustbin," she said.

Modi resumed the yatra after performing religious rites at the historic Ambaji temple. He will proceed towards Patan and conclude the yatra at Surendranagar in north Gujarat on October 6.

The BJP state leadership had postponed the fourth phase of the yatra, earlier scheduled to commence on September 28, following the Akshardham attack.

The first phase had begun amid controversies on September 8 and the yatra has since dominated socio-political life of the state, especially Modi's alleged comments on minorities and population control.

PTI

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