Ahmedabad, Sep 27 (UNI) Revisiting the early days of his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that he had little administrative experience but unflinching trust in Gujarat and its citizens when asked by the BJP leadership to take over the reins of the state in late 2001.
Modi was BJP’s General Secretary (Organisation) and not even an MLA when he replaced veteran Keshubhai Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister on October 3, 2001. He won his first Assembly election on February 24, 2002, from Rajkot II constituency through a by-poll.
“I became an MLA for the first time back then. It was a new field for me. I had little experience… But I had unflinching trust in on Gujarat and its,” Modi said at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here. As Chief Minister, Modi had started the investment conclave in 2003.
Addressing the 20th anniversary of the event, Modi noted that the western state had been dealing with a severe famine for a protracted period of time before the massive earthquake that struck Bhuj in 2001.The tremor claimed thousands of lives.
Modi said apart from the earthquake and famine, another significant event that occurred in Gujarat during the same period was the collapse of the Mercantile Cooperative Bank of Madhavpura
He said the state’s finance industry also was, in some ways, having problems.
“I had just started my first term as an MLA at that point. I had no prior experience in governance,” he said.
He also referred to the 2002 Gujarat riots that occurred four months after he had taken oath as chief minister.
“The events that followed left Gujarat embroiled in bloodshed,” he said.
Modi said it was then predicted that Gujarat’s business people, industries, and youth would all leave, leaving the state in such disrepair that it would become a major burden on the nation.
He alleged that Gujarat was the target of a global defamation plot and there was a mood of desolation.
“I took the decision to start the vibrant Gujarat summit to bring the state out of that crisis,” he said.
Referring to Swami Vivekananda, Modi pointed out the ascetic had said every work went through three stages.
“People initially mock it, then resist it, and then embrace it,” Modi said, quoting the sage.
“It is particularly so when the concept is innovative” added the PM.
