Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil Thursday praised Morbi district's ability to rise from tragedies to become the ceramic hub of India even after the 1979 Machchhu dam disaster. While he lauded the "capital workers" of the district, the ruling party leader, however, skirted the Jhulto Pul suspension bridge tragedy, the first anniversary of which is only in 11 days. "A dam had breached here and scores of people were killed in the disaster. Morbi’s situation was such that people had doubts if the city would ever be able to rise again. But you all showed to the country and the world that Morbi is not afraid of floods, that it is strong. It rose once again, developed the ceramic industry and became No.1 in it,” Paatil said, referring to the Machchhu dam disaster as he addressed party workers and supporters after laying the foundation stone of the party's new office on Shanala bypass road in Morbi. The district has been witness to a number of tragedies. The dam disaster had killed hundreds and swept away large swathes of Morbi. The town had witnessed casualties and large-scale damage to property in the 2001 Kutch earthquake also. The lastest was when the cable of Jhulto Pul, the historic suspension bridge across Machchhu river, snapped killing 135 on October 30 last year. However, the BJP leader’s speech did not include any reference to that incident. Instead, he praised the BJP workers of Morbi, saying they were “capital workers” of the party. “Today, I am in such a city whose workers will have to be treated as capital workers. What does capital mean? Where did this new word come from? If we write ‘Prafulbhai’ in English, we write ‘P’ in capital and the rest of the letters in small. Each worker of the Gujarat BJP is such that his name has to be written in capital letters and you are also the same type of workers. Hence, you are capital workers. And you are residents of the capital city,” Patil said, while apparently referring to Morbi’s status as the hub of India’s ceramic industry. The booming ceramic industry of Morbi has contributed greatly to the construction industry of the country and the per capita income of residents of Morbi is among the highest in India, the Navsari MP added. He added that Mohan Kundariya, the BJP MP from Rajkot, and Morbi BJP MLA Kantilal Amrutiya had offered to fund the entire construction of the BJP office. However, Paatil turned them down. “There are lots of people in Morbi who can construct this office alone. But allowing that could give a sense of individual ownership. Our effort is to build offices from the contribution of our party workers,” said Paatil, adding, “Not only in our country but in the entire world, if there is one party whose offices are built by their workers, it is the BJP and I am proud of that". Subsequently, both Kundariya and Amrutiya — both associated with the ceramic industry — pledged to contribute Rs 1.11 crore each for the office project, Paatil said. He added that Dhrangadhra MLA Prakash Varmora, who also has stakes in multiple ceramic factories, also pledged Rs 1.11 crore. The president said that Kutch MP Vinod Chavda, whose constituency includes parts of Morbi district, pledged Rs 25 lakh, while former ministers Jayanti Kavadiya and Brijesh Merja pledged Rs 51 lakh and Rs 11 lakh respectively. Paatil appealed workers to contribute — Re 1 or Rs 100 — for the project. “Do approach the president (of BJP’s Morbi district unit) and get your contribution registered. When you go to the office, you should feel that you have also contributed for its construction — be it financial or labour. He said that workers should not consider it a “donation” but “contribution.” He added that the Morbi office will be ready within six months.
