Ahmedabad:
On his 61st birthday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will begin a fast that's scheduled to last 72 hours. The agenda, he declared in an open letter earlier this week, is to "strengthen Gujarat's environment of peace, unity and harmony." Mr Modi also waxed eloquent about what he describes as "the unhealthy environment created by the unfounded and false allegations made against me and Government of Gujarat, after 2002 riots."
Mr Modi's fast will start on Saturday in an air-conditioned exhibition hall at the Gujarat University in Ahmedabad. The room is usually rented for five lakhs a day - an indicator that its facilities are more than basic. It can accommodate 10,000 people; among them will be senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Arun Jaitley, who have both confirmed their attendance. That's at least three prime ministerial hopefuls in one room, some might say.
It won't be slim pickings for those who oppose Mr Modi. The Congress' Shankarsinh Vaghela has announced his own hunger strike. And in a bizarre case of my-fast-is-bigger-than-yours, he promised today, "We will begin one hour before he does and end the fast two hours after he does."
Mr Vaghela, who left the BJP 15 years ago, says his mission is to challenge the Chief Minister's interpretation of a recent Supreme Court verdict on the 2002 riots. Earlier this week, the court refused to take a stand on whether there's enough evidence to merit Mr Modi's trial for complicity in the riots that killed 1200 people, most of them Muslims. The Supreme Court said all evidence and reports collected on the matter will be sent to a trial court in Gujarat. The BJP and Mr Modi said this proves that the catalogue of grievances against Mr Modi for failing to control the rioters is unfounded. Those who studied the riots and interviewed witnesses on behalf of the Supreme Court have stressed that the latest verdict is not a clean chit.
But Mr Modi tweeted God is great within hours; the BJP said this proves "there is not a shred of evidence" against their Chief Minister.
In addition to the predictable political backlash that rails against Mr Modi and the BJP spin-doctoring the verdict, an open letter has been written by suspended police officer Sanjiv Bhatt. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, Mr Bhatt has alleged that during the riots, he attended a meeting of senior policemen called by Mr Modi. There, Mr Bhatt says, the Chief Minister ordered the police to ensure that rioters were not reigned in.
In his letter sent to different media houses, Mr Bhatt writes, "You and your advisors are misleading people on the Supreme Court order. The Supreme Court order did not say that charges against you are false."
Mr Bhatt's testimony has been challenged by other policemen who attended the meeting and say he was not present. But the allegations that Mr Modi and his government are misusing public offices to divert the investigations against the Chief Minister, and to help those accused of rioting, aren't trickling away.
The Supreme Court's order, say sources, has Mr Modi convinced that he has a shot at being the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the next general election in 2014. And the fast is the first step in a makeover that will focus on his secularism.