Less than a week after he mocked at the treasure hunt in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday did a volte-face and paid respects to seer Shobhan Sarkar, whose “dream” reportedly prompted the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out excavation at the site.
Writing on his Twitter handle in Hindi, Mr. Modi said he saluted the austerity and renunciation of Sarkar, with whom is associated the faith of lakhs of people for many years. But Mr. Modi reiterated need to get back the black money stashed away abroad — the part of the statement he had given at his Chennai rally on Friday.
Mr. Modi said in Chennai >the entire world was laughing at India for the digging for gold just on the basis of somebody’s dream , while the money stashed away in other countries must be worth more.
Mr. Modi’s softening of stance reportedly follows a letter written by followers of Sarkar condemning Mr. Modi’s remarks.