The Gujarat Gaurav Rathyatra of Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been halted in its tracks 48 hours before it sets off packaging Modi as the state’s Sardar Patel. Under pressure from the Opposition and the National Human Rights Commission which feared another outbreak of violence during the yatra, the Centre intervened today to advise him to cancel it. The state BJP announced that it has been ‘‘indefinitely postponed.’’ WHAT THEY PUT BRAKES ON After the meeting, Vajpayee took up the matter with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani who apparently agreed with the view. Finally, it was Advani who telephoned Modi and advised him to call off the yatra. Ironically, BJP’s new spokesman Arun Jaitley today criticised the Opposition’s reservations on the yatra. He said that this was part of the party’s political campaign. And that Opposition parties also conducted similar campaigns. He added, however, that caution was needed keeping in view the sensitive situation in the state. At the Prime Minister’s meeting, the officials admitted that the yatra could vitiate the atmosphere in the State. Their views were endorsed by Prasad. This prompted the PM to question the timing of the yatra. He is believed to have suggested that it was ‘‘inappropriate’’. Later, Vajpayee met a delegation including former Prime Minister I K Gujral, former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey, journalists B G Verghese and Prabhash Joshi, former Ambassador Hamid Ansari, Justice Rajinder Sachar and Swami Agnivesh. Many of them are helping NGOs in Gujarat with relief work. One of the issues that came up during the discussions was a move by the Gujarat Government to close down some camps which it considered ‘‘unviable’’. The plea taken by the state officials in the morning was that they want to rationalise relief work by having fewer camps which would be better equipped. After hearing objections from people like Dubey who are working in the camps, it was decided that representatives of the NGOs would visit the camps the district administration wants to shut down and try and work out a compromise. Vajpayee agreed with the delegates that the victims should not be pressured into leaving the camps. None would be forcibly evicted, he is believed to have assured the delegation. Meanwhile, in Ahmedabad, the state unit downplayed the decision. Said state BJP chief Rajendrasinh Rana: ‘‘The yatra has not been cancelled; it has been indefinitely postponed. If the NHRC had sought the details of the yatra, we could have explained there is no communal aim behind it. I and the chief minister decided to put off the yatra.’’ Asked if it was the central BJP leadership’s decision, Rana claimed: ‘‘It was a subject of Gujarat and both of us decided what should be done about it.’’ Asked if the national leadership had been informed, he said: ‘‘I will not say anything else.’’ However, State BJP general secretary Nalin Bhatt said: ‘‘The NHRC’s sentiments were discussed by the central BJP leadership threadbare and it was decided to cancel the yatra.’’ To further questions, he said, ‘‘When our central leadership has taken a decision, we willingly abide by it.’’ Asked if he supported the decision, he said, ‘‘My opinion has no meaning.’’ Said BJP MLA Vijay Patel, who also provides legal aid to the chief minister. ‘‘We will show the NHRC and the world when the ballot boxes would be overflowing with BJP votes. Will the NHRC then say that the people of Gujarat have voted against human rights?’’ He said, ‘‘The decision is unfortunate. It is extra-constitutional intervention of the NHRC in the running of a political party.’’
