Modi’s colourful, rhetorical speech drew spontaneous response from the gathering which listened in rapt attention — till the light sporadic drizzle grew heavier
NEW DELHI; Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was the hero at the BJP’s anti-terror rally here on Friday, the killing of two alleged terrorists in the Capital serving as another prop for his projection.
Modi’s colourful, rhetorical speech drew spontaneous response from the gathering which listened in rapt attention — till the light sporadic drizzle grew heavier. He played upon his projected image of anti-terror warrior, relating a story of a reporter asking him what message he had for terrorists. “I told him I do not give them messages; I take action against them,” he thundered.
The star speaker was the last to arrive at the venue to a rousing welcome. The party’s prime minister-in-waiting LK Advani and president Rajnath Singh reached together about 10 minutes earlier.
Modi started by congratulating Delhi BJP unit for its campaign to create awareness in public to combat terror. Speaking about the need for a Pota-like law, Modi had the cops nodding in agreement as he spoke of how they had been given AK-47s in place of the old .303 rifles but they had not been given the power of the pen to take action against terrorists.
Modi mentioned his meeting with the prime minister to say the latter became so interested that he called the national security advisor also. “I hoped after so much information…,” he left the sentence hanging, adding, “but still the blasts took place in Delhi.”
Claiming Gujarat has made a beginning in the war against terrorism, Modi said: “Gujarat aatankvaad ke saamne mujra nahin karega (Gujarat would not perform a dance in front of terrorism).” Singh and Advani had to wrap up their speeches midway as the drizzle turned into a downpour.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
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