After no to kaffiyeh,Modi says yes to saffron shawl

After being snubbed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi during his recent rallies held as part of his Sadbhavana Mission,Muslims today offered him a saffron shawl with tridents,damru and “Om Namah Shivayah” printed on it.

And unlike the incident in Navsari,where he turned down a kaffiyeh offered by a Muslim,Modi leaned forward to take the saffron shawl even as Vijay Rupani,BJP Rajya Sabha member,announced that the “Muslim samaj here has gifted the CM a shawl”.In September,Modi had also turned down a skull cap offered by a Muslim cleric from Kheda.While the Sunni Muslim Samaj of Porbandar offered the saffron shawl today,the Junagadh Sunni Muslim Jamaat gave him a 2.5-foot idol of Lord Hanuman and a miniature of Lord Krishna’s chariot. He also got a miniature of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah.“Through the shawl and idol we tried to send across the message of sadbhavana,’’ said Kasam Sandhar,president of the Anjuman Islam Porbandar.

“The incidents of the skull cap and kaffiyeh were planned acts to create controversy. The skull cap is a religious symbol,’’ said Kadam Salot,a minority leader from Rajkot.