A parallel fast by Congress leaders in Ahmedabad

While the state government has shifted to the Gujarat University convention hall for three days, the state Congress has moved
to Gandhi Ashram for the same period.

Congress leaders Shankarsinh Vaghela, Arjun Modhwadia and Shaktisinh Gohil, along with 50 other party leaders and workers, started their fast on Saturday an hour before chief minister Narendra Modi’s fast began.

Vaghela wished Modi on his 61st birthday. He said, “As we heard the hymn of ‘Vaishnava Jana to...’ I would pray to God that he should feel and understand the pain of other people (peed parai) and work to provide them relief.”

He questioned the motive of the CM’s fast. “We want to ask the leader of the BJP government the reason for fasting. Have the skies fallen? He says it is for Sadbhavna, but Sadbhavna has always been there in Gujarat. It is nothing new. Peace and unity are also not new to the state,” he said.

Vaghela, a former CM of the state, described Modi’s fast as meaningless and a publicity stunt. He questioned the need of spending crores of rupees on the five-star fast and said that the Modi government had failed on all counts.