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Friday, April 28, 2006

Narendra Modi's speech of 7 April 2006 at Vadodara at launch of L.K. Advani's 'yatra' 

Under the leadership of Advaniji, this Bharat Suraksha yatra, after
traveling for 35 days, will reach New Delhi.

Friends, these days in politics, those who have not even seen 50 cities of
India have made careers as politicians just by making their presence felt in
the media. In this country, such people don't find any difficulties in
running their career. There are at least two-dozen such people in New Delhi.
But Advaniji, at the age of 78, in temperatures as high as 40 to 45 degrees,
will travel for 35 days. Friends, this penance is not for politics
[rajkaran] but its for the nation [rashtrakaran].

(Crowd applauds).

I can understand politicians coming to you when elections are on. But now,
there is no question of an election [in Gujarat]. We have absolutely
finished them [the Congress]; they are driven out.

(Crowd cheers).

Advaniji is out on the street in this scorching heat because some
politicians do have long distance vision. Advani is able to see into the
future. The way the rulers of New Delhi are ruling the country; the way they
are conspiring to vertically tear off the society; it will corrode the soul
of India.

We want to educate people and warn the emperors of Delhi that the BJP is
marching ahead with the Suraksha yatra.

Brothers and sisters, what is the conspiracy being planned by the government
in New Delhi?

In Godhra 60 karsevaks were burnt to death. Then, we applied POTA against
the culprits, and the government in New Delhi repealed POTA.

Why brother, why? For whose benefit was POTA repealed? Why are the
conspirators of Godhra being protected? The story did not end there. They
created a committee named Bannerjee Committee. On reading Bannerjee's report
it seems like the Committee's name is Ben [sister] Raji [happy] committee.

(Crowd breaks into cheers).

This 'Benraji' Committee gave a report just to keep the sister [Congress
chief Sonia Gandhi] happy.

I request the intellectuals of India to think that this day the Supreme
Court is alerted if a witness changes stand or withdraws it. But when
governments plot to protect criminals, then is there any crime bigger than
that?

Friends, this kind of scheming is done by the government to create a
conducive atmosphere to save criminals. This is why the ordinary citizen is
left feeling insecure. How a variety of decisions are being taken these
days! Recently the Sachchar committee came to meet me. This Committee has
been formed to look into the living conditions of Muslims in India. Never
heard of such committees... I have heard of commissions which include all
kind of people.

For the first time, a commission has been formed exclusively for the
Muslims.

They came too meet me. They asked me whether the Muslims get a fair deal in
your state, and blah.blah...

I said, look brother, in my state Muslims alone get nothing.

(The crowd is in raptures)

[After a pause] I also told them, I have nothing to offer to Hindus alone.
Whatever is with me is for the five-crore Gujaratis.

(Laughter)

I don't discriminate nor do I approve of such discrimination, I said.

They were shocked. They asked me something must be there for the Muslims,
right? I asked [the members of Sachchar committee], tell me what figures you
want from me? They asked me, "How much do you spend on Muslims?"

So, I said, okay, let us calculate.

Now, see, the Sabarmati River gets water from the Narmada. How do I
calculate how much water the Muslims drink and how much the Hindus consume?
Let me tell you, I told these things on their faces without mincing words.

Then, I asked them whether they wanted me to calculate how much the Muslim
prisoners of Sabarmati Jail eat and how much the Hindu prisoners eat?

We have a home department. Do you want me to calculate the money spent on
Muslim gangsters and Hindu gangsters? I clearly told the Sachchar Committee
that I will not allow them to sow the seeds of division in the land of
Gujarat. Do whatever you can, I will not give you any such information, I
told them. After they left my office, one of the members of committee said
that this is one chief minister who never compromises.

Should we not think about the country? About our society? Or should we
divide the country by forming such committees? Look at their audacity! To
harm the country, they (government in Centre) have asked for statistics of
Muslims in the Indian Army. I salute the chiefs of all the three defence
services who refused to divulge such information like Gujarat state.

They said that in our world there are no Hindus, there are no Muslims, we
are all residents of Hindustan. We don't have such divisions.

Each and every step of the central government worries us. Recently,
elections were held in Assam. When I went there, our workers insisted that I
speak on Bangladeshi infiltrators.

I asked them what the reasons behind their woes were. Assam and Bangladesh
are neighbours. I said our (Gujarat's) neighbour is Pakistan. I said
Bangladesh is harassing you because your state government is spineless.
Here, our neighbour Pakistan is having sleepless nights.

(Clapping)

Why should we have sleepless nights? The central government's policy of
minority appeasement is creating insecurity in the nation.

I will now end my speech and request Advaniji to give the message about the
security of India to all of us.