Ahmedabad, 18 January 2012

Similar speeches of Narendra Modi in one and another Sadbhavana fast don’t excite news media anymore, but still, Sadbhavana fasts are in news, and that too very prominently, in most of the cases on front page today. And we are talking about Ahmedabad edition of major dailies.

Today’s Times of India is featuring a front page top report highlighting a dust-free Ibadatkhana enclosure that is being set up next to Narendra Modi’s Sadbhavana fast stage in Godhra. Muftis, maulvis and other Muslims of Godhra who will come to attend Modi’s district-wise Sadbhavana fast in Godhra will have a special enclosed facility of performing Friday Namaaz and Vazu at the venue.

DNA had yesterday published a story on how Muslims of Godhra now overwhelmingly support the BJP. Today’s Times of India story too covers this angle in secondary lines. Today’s Divya Bhaskar in its front page story reports that about 3,000 Muslims will join Modi in Sadbhavana fast, and 500 of them will join fast with Modi.

The Indian Express(IE) in its story on Sadbhavna fast today has put figures of Modi’s announcements of huge financial packages for development of the district that hosts the fast. Total figure of announcements so far reaches Rs 17,000 crore as per the IE report. IE points out that the initial fasts at Dwarka, Patan, Navsari, Rajpipla and Bhachau witnessed no such announcements. IE goes into the details of announced packages and reveals that some projects, part of the announcement are going on. IE quotes Minister of state Saurabh Patel saying that these packages are part of the total allocation for the districts in the current budget and provisions made by the state government in the upcoming state budget.

In another Sadbhavana fast related story, The Indian Express says that the coastal cluster of Somnath comprising seven talukas of Junagadh district is hoping that Modi would announce a new district of Somnath during his Sadbhavana fast in Veraval on January 23. These talukas are Veraval, Maliya, Talala, Mangrol, Sutrapada, Kodinar and Una.

While reporting Sadbhavana fasts, Gujarati daily Sandesh has published a press release of Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia with a headline that quotes Modhwadia and says: Sadbhavana fast is Bhavai mandli(drama company).

Both Gujarat Samachar and The Times of India have published front page story on Nadiad incident of Rs 1.5 crore burglary, highlighting that it happened in a store that was just 30 ft away from a police chowky, but chowky was locked because police staff had gone to Dakor for Modi’s Sadbhavana fast bandobast!

So, after around two dozen venues, Sadbhavana fast is still in news, that too very prominently, for different reasons, and in different flavors.