It has been celebration time for Gujaratis here for a week now.
They are on cloud nine after the impressive victory in the Lok Sabha elections of Narendra Modi who, for them, symbolises the prosperity of their home State. Mr. Modi has had direct contact with the Gujaratis settled down in other States.
In Tamil Nadu, Mr. Modi’s rapport with members of Tiruchi Gujarathi Samaj spans four years. As Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Modi used to call them up once in a while and greet them. At the instance of Mr. Modi, a team representing the Gujarat government even visited the Tiruchi Gujarathi Samaj office once for an interaction and promised to depute a cultural team to make them feel more at home in Tiruchi.
The Samaj has been receiving letters from the office of the Gujarat Chief Minister regularly. In one of the letters, Mr. Modi promised them larger opportunities if they chose to return to Gujarat. The members of the Samaj interacted personally for the first time with Mr. Modi on September 26, 2013, when he was in the city to take part in the Bharathia Janata Party’s youth wing conference. At Mr. Modi’s invitation, Samaj president Jayantilal M. Vora, chairman Deepak Shah and vice-president Ashok Gandhi met Mr. Modi at the Tiruchi airport and felicitated him.
The representatives of Patel Samaj, another organisation of Gujaratis in the city, and Jaipur Samaj also greeted Mr. Modi at the airport. After he was made the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr. Modi invited the office-bearers of the Gujarathi Samajs in Tamil Nadu to Gandhi Nagar and held discussions with them, besides seeking their support.
“It is a great honour that Mr. Modi has been elected to lead the country with a massive mandate. We have been making our happiness known for a week now by distributing sweets to the public,” said Mr. Jayatilal Vora.
