Chief Minister Modi Ready To Wipe Out Terrorism from Southern India

( January, 15, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) "If fighting terrorism is a crime, I am ready to pay the price for it," declared Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi here on Monday, reacting perhaps to the high-decibel protests by some Muslim outfits and other parties in Chennai and elsewhere in Tamil Nadu to his visit

Addressing a public meeting in connection with the anniversary celebrations of Tamil weekly Thughlak, edited by noted polemist Cho Ramasamy, the Gujarat chief minister rejected the allegations that he had won the elections on a communal card. "Is speaking against terrorism communal?," Modi asked and recalled his earlier challenge that he was ready to declare himself defeated if anyone produced evidence from his speech copy available with the election commission to prove that he was communal.

Modi said that secularism in the country had changed "colour" with the times and "today it means hate Hindus".

"Earlier it was said secularism was religious harmony. It changed colour to get sympathy for minorities, then for appeasement of minorities and later for a Muslim vote bank. Today it means hate the Hindus," he said. Attributing his victory to the development projects implemented by the BJP government, Modi said, "unless you don’t have an inclusive growth and all out development, you cannot change the face of a state." "In 700 days we were able to lay a 1,400 km pipe-line to supply water from Narmada river to Gujarat. The pipe is so huge that Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi with all his family members can travel through it in a car," he said. Stressing on private-public co-operation and participation, he said the participation of private-public doctors in the Sanjeevi scheme had brought down the infant mortality rate substantially in the state.

He said development could be achieved only when it was converted into a mass movement. "It was Mahatama Gandhi who involved everyone in the movement and we got independence. Unless we ensure the participation of 100 crore people in this country we cannot take forward the developmental process," he said. Talking about US denying him entry for a visit, Modi said he would create so many USs in Gujarat that the Americans would queue up seeking visas to visit the country.