On the eve of a decade of the Godhra train carnage and the subsequent communal riots, Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dared Gujarat-bashers to try disrupting the peace and bonhomie experienced in the State in the last 10 years.
Dedicating to the people the new ultra-modern and high-tech central jail in Surat, Mr. Modi said that for the last 10 years a “handful of Gujarat-bashers” had left no stone unturned to defame Gujarat and disrupt peace, communal harmony and sense of brotherhood being witnessed in the State.
“I challenge them to try to disrupt the peace prevailing in the State and I can guarantee you that despite their millions of efforts, they will never succeed,” he said.
Gujarat had moved ahead on the path of development and progress, which was wedded to unity, harmony and brotherhood among all the communities and there would be no looking back, the Chief Minister asserted.
The “handful of Gujarat-bashers” have been trying all tricks of the trade and playing all kinds of “mischief” to “poison the society” and inject disharmony between one communities, “but they have miserably failed in their sinister design.”
They want to ensure that Gujarat is ruined, “but that is not to be because the State has laid a stronger foundation for amity and brotherhood that has helped it gain inherent strength to reach new heights of development and progress.” Often criticised for the alleged violation of human rights since the riots, Mr. Modi said he was inviting the authorities of the human rights commission to visit the Surat jail and satisfy themselves that the government had not violated any human rights. He said it had been designed as a model central jail with all high-tech facilities having a humanitarian approach to reform the prisoners and help them return to society as responsible citizens.
