Jayalalithaa extends support to Modi's fast

Chennai, Sep.17 (ANI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Saturday extended support to a three-day fast for communal amity initiated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Stressing that Modi's fast was in sync with the secular policy adopted by her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazahagam (AIADMK) party, Jayalalithaa said she had sent two emissaries as a goodwill gesture to Ahmedabad.

"Mr. Narendra Modi has announced that he is going on a fast for communal harmony, and peace and unity. This is also in line with our policy of secularism and maintaining communal harmony and peace. Mr. Narendra Modi spoke to me on the telephone and asked me to send someone to felicitate his fast. So I have decided to send our two members of parliament," Jayalalithaa told mediapersons on the sidelines of a function in the southern city of Chennai.

Modi consistently appears in polls as India's most popular chief minister and a top-rated opposition politician.

Popular for bringing jobs, electricity and better roads to the booming state, Modi is also loved by business leaders.

He also epitomises the more modern image now favoured by the BJP, with a focus on clean governance, security and economic management in one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.

Jayalalithaa lashed out at Modi's critics, stressing that his move was aimed at fostering an atmosphere of peace and inter-religious harmony.

"This is just an expression of goodwill. There is nothing to find fault, with this fast, because it is for the expressed purpose of maintaining communal peace and harmony, fostering communal peace and harmony," said Jayalalithaa.

Although long thought of as a contender to be prime minister if his party were to win 2014 elections, Modi's association with Gujarat violence has held him back.

Critics say Modi and his party, the BJP, which rules Gujarat, did little to stop the violent aftermath of Godhra incident.

The riots took place after a train carrying Hindu devotees was set on fire at the Godhra Railway Station, setting off one of the country's worst communal riots since independence in 1947.

More than 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the subsequent riots in Gujarat.

In April 2009, the Supreme Court, ordered a probe by the federal police into the alleged inaction by law enforcing authorities, including the state chief, which led to the massacre. (ANI)