With the “Modi for Prime Minister” chorus growing louder each day, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi once again indicated that he was ready to take up the top job.
Though modest, he sounded firm and responded enthusiastically to the call of the sants and spiritual leaders from across the country, who hailed him as the most suitable Prime Ministerial candidate on Friday at Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar.
“I feel I am not fit for this job, but the blessings of the sants are not just an honour but an order for me. It inspires me to liberate the country from evils,” Modi said. He was here to inaugurate Acharyakulam Shikshan Sansthan, a Vedic cum modern education institution at the Yogpeeth. Modi’s 50-minute-long address that showcased his respect for India’s age-old traditions and culture, left the sants impressed.
“Politicians or Governments have not made India. It is the sants and teachers who have made India what it is. No force is strong enough to stop India from moving ahead,” Modi said.
The atmosphere turned celebratory at the yoga ashram at Patanjali Yogpeeth as soon the spiritual leaders and sants announced the name of Narendra Modi as their choice for the Prime Minister’s job.
The crowd went into a frenzy every time Modi’s name was mentioned. The pleasant weather also added to the enthusiasm of the 5,000-strong crowd which had assembled from various parts of Uttrakhand and adjoining Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from yoga guru Baba Ramdev, the other Hindu spiritual leaders present on the occasion were Murari Bapu, Ramesh Bhai Ojha, Guru Sharnanand Ji Maharaj, Shankaracharya, Pranav Pandya, president of Gayatri Parivar; Swami Nirmalanand Nath, Kripaluji Maharaj and Ma Ritambhara. While blasting the detractors of yoga guru Swami Ramdev, the Gujarat Chief Minister said he was a victim of political vendetta.
In an indirect reference to the Congress-led UPA Government, Modi said they had no right to trouble a sant like Ramdev if they do not like what he (Ramdev) said. “Swami Ramdev has been doing wonders, not only by serving the people but also by serving the nation religiously. The sacrifice of Rajbala (who died during police action at Ramlila Maidan in June 2011) will not go in vain. There are some people who question his integrity but we do not need to respond to them. When the British could not stop nationalist forces, how can you (Government) stop us,” Modi said, daring the Government to prove charges against Ramdev.
Modi was all praises for the yoga guru, who, he said, did not confine himself to preaching but worked for the good of society as a whole.
“He has no personal goal; he worked for improving the health of the country. During the last ten years, the yoga guru has taken his struggle forward to weed out the evil of corruption from the country,” he said.
Drawing parallels between himself and Ramdev, Modi pointed out that like the yoga guru, he too has been facing charges one after the other; though no Government or enquiry has ever been able to prove the charges that have been levelled against him.
The Gujarat Chief Minister maintained that his model of governance was based on “welfare for all.”
“My manifesto is everyone should be healthy and welfare for all. In Gujarat (where) riots happened every other day and innocents were killed, today after 12 years there is not a sign of riots,” he said.
Taking a dig at his opponents, who often question his party’s secular credentials, the BJP’s poster boy said religion and politics could not be separated in India and that his critics had no understanding of India’s religious traditions.
“A section of people know that India was born in 1947, while the rest know that India is thousands of years old. Those belonging to the first category have moved on the wrong path. As a matter of fact, it is our culture, tradition and religion that have kept our identity intact and hence it is our duty to salvage other countries of the world. If a country dissociates from its past, it can never create history,” Modi said.
The sants praised Modi as an epitome of courage, experience, dedication and good governance and exhorted upon him to lead the country on the path of success.
Modi, however, said it was not him but the six crore population of Gujarat that scripted the success story of his State. “When six crore Gujaratis can make the State a role model for India, then 125 crore Indians can definitely make India a role model for the rest of the world,” he added.