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Ahmedabad: Dismissing the allegations made by senior IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt over Gujarat riot, state Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that he would neither "break down" nor "bow out" to forces which were trying to malign him. "There are thousands of opportunities to trouble Modi, every constitutional authority has been let out to harass Modi...let them try to do that...But Modi will not breakdown nor would he bow out," Mr Modi said while addressing the culmination of Gujarat's Golden Jubilee celebrations here. These comments came in the backdrop of Mr Bhatt submitting an affidavit to the Supreme Court, saying Mr Modi had asked police officers to be "indifferent" to rioters and to the calls for help. Saying that he would "enter the battle field with full strength" in the coming days, Mr Modi asked for blessing of the gathering. Attacking the Congress party, without naming, for boycotting celebrations, he said, "We have always tried to take everybody together. But those who wanted to take political advantage did not participate or cooperate in the Golden Jubilee celebrations." He appealed the gathering to "not to forgive" those who did not consider the Golden Jubilee celebration "as theirs" and opposed it or created obstacles in it as "they are anti-Gujarat". Mr Modi said the celebration of Gujarat's Golden Jubilee year (Swarnim Varsh) has laid foundation stone for the Golden Era (Swarnim Yug), which is going to take place in the state in days to come. "Gujarat has created many milestones in last five decades and it is committed to continue with this practice", he said. Besides Governor Kamala Beniwal and Mr Modi, who were guests at the concluding ceremony, other prominent people present on the occasion included leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman. Mr Jaitley is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat. In contrast, all bigwigs of BJP, including Mr L K Advani and all BJP chief ministers, were present at the inaugural of the jubilee celebrations at the same venue -- Sardar Patel Stadium -- last year. Mr Advani, who represents Gandhinagar in the Lok Sabha, did not turn up for the closing ceremony. While chaos prevailed at the inaugural ceremony, lack of enthusiasm was seen this time and the closing ceremony started about an hour behind schedule as the Governor and the Chief Minister turned up late. About 5,000 artistes from different parts of the state displayed their skills at the cultural programme. Tight security arrangements were in place around the stadium. Earlier in the day, Mr Modi paid floral tributes at the statues of those leaders who took part in Mahagujarat movement that led to formation of the separate state on May 1, 1960.
