Vaghela no match for crowd-puller Modi

Vaghela, however, did manage to divert the media attention away from Modi’s fast. His fast, a sharp contrast to the one by Modi, did not see the presence of any national leaders but managed to get all senior state Congress leaders on the same stage, a rare sight in the last one decade.

Vaghela who began his fast a couple of hours earlier than the chief minister, has declar­ed he would end the fast an ho­ur later, after the chief mi­ni­ster does.

“It is an attempt to make the people of Gujarat aware of the realities of the state, the leader shies away from appointing a Lok­a­yukta, it’s a government dr­enched in corruption and has failed to provide justice, to the extent even to the family members of its own form­er ho­me minister,’’ said Va­g­he­la.

Unlike at Modi’s fast venue, where it was a packed hall of 7,000-odd audience, at Va­ghela’s fast venue it was a mo­tley crowd comprising primarily of party workers.

Meanwhile, danseuse and activist Mali­ka Sarabhai, who had pledged to feed malnourished girls and women for the next three days beginning from Saturday, fed around 200 girls with the traditional Gujarati Khichdi kadi. 

She also ensured that the children were entertained – a dance performance by some students of her academy was held by Sarabhai.