Chatth function: As PM Narendra Modi sings praise to Biharis in old speech, CM Anandiben Patel courts voters

The event was attended by close to 20,000 Biharis living in and around Ahmedabad.

PM Narendra Modi

A five-minute video clip of a speech by PM Narendra Modi, when he was the CM, delivered at a Chhath Puja event in the state in 2013, was played at an event Tuesday. CM Anandiben Patel was the chief guest at the two-day annual ‘Chhath Sanskrutij Mahotsav’ flagged off by Bihari community organisations at Hansol in Gandhinagar. The event was attended by close to 20,000 Biharis living in and around Ahmedabad.

In the clip, Modi praises the Bihari community by citing two of their unique characteristics – their praying to the setting sun and observing strict cleanliness during Chhath Puja. “This country is full of uniqueness and dissimilarities and we must respect these dissimilarities. We must look for unity among them. There are so many forces that divide and very few that unite. So the mantra of unity has to resonate again and again,” Modi says in the clip.

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Asking resident Biharis to vote the BJP back into power for the upcoming civic polls next week, CM Anandiben Patel in her address at the event said, “There are many cultural similarities between Gujaratis and Biharis. One such similarity is that Gujaratis flock to Bihar to perform Pitru Shradh (homage to ancestors) and people from Bihar come to Gujarat to conduct Matru Shradh at Siddhpur… Many of your community leaders came to me and have also asked me for better facilities at the Sabarmati riverfront (ghats) for performing Chhath Puja and I will look into it after the civic polls. People of different communities should be allowed to practise their traditions and the state government will do everything to facilitate this.”

The event was attended by senior community leaders from the Bihari community and many Bihari priests who preside over various temples in Ahmedabad. The organisers, however, said that the two-day-long celebrations were non-political and that the next day’s event will be attended by Opposition leader Shankarsinh Vaghela.

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