The Gujarat government wants to develop the state as a global tourism hub by presenting its "culture and heritage in new forms and colours", Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said Wednesday at the ongoing Madhavpur Mela, the religio-cultural fair going on in Porbandar. Addressing a gathering at the Madhavpur Mela on the fourth day of the fair, Patel said that fairs such as these reflect the colourful regional diversity of Gujarat’s cultural life as well as promote social unity and harmony. The chief minister said that the state government wants to project this diverse cultural heritage on the global stage. “Our government wants to make Gujarat a global hub of tourism. To achieve this, we have adopted the policy of doing well-planned development of religious places, renovation of ancient and heritage places and reinventing fairs like this one,” Patel said. “Inspired by Narendra Modi, we have chosen the path of presenting Gujarat’s festivals and functions in forms and colours,” he added. The Madhavpur Mela was inaugurated by President Ramnath Kovind on Sunday. Besides Patel, his Assamese counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Rameswar Teli and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi, Education Minister Jitu Vaghani and Tourism Minister Purnesh Modi were also present in Madhavpur on Wednesday. Addressing the people, Sarma remembered Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-century Assamese saint of the Vaishnava sect, a contemporary of Gujarat’s poet-saint Narsinh Mehta who had visited Gujarat and Porbandar. He also remembered Krishna Nath Sarmah, the freedom fighter from Assam who had joined the Dandi march taken out by Mahatma Gandhi to oppose British rule in India. He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trying to connect the Saurashtra region of Gujarat to Silchar in Assam through the east-west corridor of highways. The Assam CM said that the cultural ties of Gujarat and Assam span ages. “Not only that Lord Krisha married Rukmini who was from the northeast, his grandson Aniruddha married Usha, who was daughter of Banasur of present-day Assam. I invite you to visit Assam. Gujaratis are big-time tourists and they should visit the region Rukmini hailed from,” Sarma said, adding Bhupen Hazarika, the Bharat-Ratna recipient singer from Assam, had married Priyamvada Patel who was a native of Gujarat. He also added that while Gujarat celebrates Madhavpur Mela, Assam observes Rongali Bihu, marking the beginning of the Assamese new year. Madhavpur Mela celebrates Lord Krishna tying the knot with Rukmini in this village around 4,000 years ago, as per Hindu mythology. The fair will culminate on Thursday with the idols of Lord Krishna and Rukmini being taken into a procession in Madhavpur village.
