Riots, firing, curfews during Rath Yatra are a thing of the past, says Amit Shah hitting out at Congress

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at Congress saying how during its rule, the annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad used to be associated with "brawls, riots and firing incidents." He said that it was only when people of Gujarat elected BJP to power, the "curfews" became a thing of the past and the yatra now passes peacefully with cooperation of the government.

"Today is the 145th edition of the annual Rath Yatra. There was a time under Congress rule that people used to worry about brawls, riots and firing. But, things changed after the people of Gujarat brought BJP to power. From the time when Narendrabhai (Modi) became the chief minister till Bhupendrabhai (Patel, current chief minister), nobody now dares to throw even a pebble at the rath yatra," the Union Minister said while addressing a gathering at Rupal village in Gandhinagar district where he launched a slew of development projects.

"The days of curfew are over. In my younger days, the government had prohibited rath yatra procession thrice without admitting that they were not capable of protecting Lord Jagannath. Earlier, the yatra used to be taken out without the permission of the government, now it happens along with government's cooperation," Shah said.

Earlier in the day Shah, who is the MP from Gandhinagar constituency, had performed "mangla aarti" at the Jagannath temple, from where nearly 15 km yatra begins. It passes through Karanj, Madhavpura, Shaherkotda, Khadia, Shahpur, Gaikwad Haveli, Kalupur and Dariapur police stations areas where Hindus and Muslim live side by side. In the past, there have been many communal conflicts during the yatra.

From the past several years, the police have been acting as mediators to bring the two communities together in the run up to the annual religious festivity by holding friendly cricket matches, blood donation camps, felicitating meritorious students and cultural events. Besides, several peace committees would also assist the cops by holding discussions for Hindu-Muslim unity and harmony.

This year, a record 25,000 policemen were deployed for safe passage of the yatra along with dozens of companies of para military forces.