Chief Minister Narendra Modi,who has been touring the state as part of his Sadbhavana Mission,today triggered another row at a function at Lunsikui here when he turned down an Arabic scarf (kaffiyeh) offered by a cleric. Mohammed Fadia,a cleric from Simlak village in Jalapore taluka who had come to greet Modi,tried to put a kaffiyeh around him but the CM refused to accept the gift,in a replay of the incident when he had refused a skull cap offered by a cleric during his Sadbhavna fast in Ahmedabad in September. As part of damage control exercise,state BJP minority cells president Mehbub Ali Mirza whisked away the cleric soon after the incident. About 30 minutes,the cleric surfaced again to deny having ever offered a kaffiyeh to Modi. Accompanied by Mirza,he told reporters,I have been associated with the BJP for the last 10 years and I have great respect for Modi. I came here to attend the event and extend my best wishes for him. I did not offer him any scarf. I only greeted him. When The Indian Express asked him who the state BJPs minority cell president was,the cleric said he did not know,even as he stood right beside Mirza. Suspecting something was amiss,Fadia broke down,saying he did not want to say anything further. Meanwhile,Modi asked all those fasting with him to break their fast in the evening but said he would break his fast only on Friday morning at Gandhinagar. At Dwarka,he had broken his fast in the evening the same day.
