The Gujarat Assembly on Friday held a special session of the House to herald the beginning of the calendar year of the “Swarnim Gujarat” celebrations.
The actual golden jubilee celebrations of the existence of the State will begin on May 1, when Gujarat was created by bifurcating the erstwhile Bombay State in 1960, and continue till May 1, 2011.
While portraits of all the dead former Chief Ministers and Speakers were unveiled in the Assembly gallery by senior leaders present at the ceremony, two former Chief Ministers, many former and present members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from the State, and the former Ministers were present.
Among those present included the BJP parliamentary party chairman, L. K. Advani, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, the former Chief Ministers Madhavsinh Solanki, Keshubhai Patel, the three Union Ministers from the State, Dinsha Patel, Bharat Solanki, and Tushar Chaudhary, two former governors, Kumudben Joshi and Viren Shah.
The ceremony was presided over by the Governor, Kamla Beniwal, who also released a book on the development of Gujarat in the last 50 years. The Chief Minister Narendra Modi unveiled an oil painting of “father of Gujarat,” Mr. Indulal Yagnik, who led the Mahagujarat movement in the mid-sixties leading to the creation of the state.
The House unanimously adopted a resolution moved by Mr Modi calling upon all the Gujaratis living in the State and abroad to join hands to contribute for the development of the State. The resolution called upon the people to join hands on the plank of development keeping aside the political rivalries just as all the political parties in the state were united on the issue of the implementation of the Narmada dam project. The leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, seconded the resolution and said the Congress would continue to give full support to the government on the issue of development of the State.
