Narendra Modi: Muslim ghetto calls fast a farce

AHMEDABAD: “He walked past me but did not stop to ask about my well-being , how can I believe that his heart bleeds for me when he is away.“ Nadeem Saiyed, social worker from Juhapura, Ahmedabad’s biggest Muslim ghetto, recites this couplet as his response to Modi’s overture to Muslims.

“The three lakh residents of Juhapura have no bus service , schools, dispensaries, playgrounds, storm water drains or fire stations. We ask for these amenities but we are given dumping grounds and sewage treatment plants,” said Congress corporator Mirza Haji Asrar Baig. “Tell me, where is the sadbhavana when BJP corporators oppose water supply projects to Juhapura on one pretext or the other?”

In fact, after the 2002 riots no Muslim can get a house outside Muslim ghettos. Plus the lesson of Gulbarg Society is not lost on them.

Crime lawyer Ejaz Quereshi , another Juhapura resident , said that Modi’s fast is awaste of public money.

The general feeling in Juhapura is that Modi’s gesture is just a stunt aimed at raising his profile. “Non-Gujaratis may be taken in by the show but here we know the truth,” said Dr Yakoob Memon , who runs the Riyaz Hospital in Juhapura. “Crocodile tears,” is how MK Pathan , a retired Class I officer, described Modi’s gesture.