Rain keeps people away from BJP’s protest march

AHMEDABAD - The ‘maun’ (silent) procession called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here Sunday evening against the arrest of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah evoked a dull response with less than a 1,000 people braving the rains to join the protest.

The rally, announced in the afternoon following Shah’s surrender to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and his being sent to Sabarmati Jail in judicial custody, was to start from the Town Hall and culminate at the Income Tax Office crossing - a distance of about 2 km.

However, the rains since the morning kept most people away though party leaders were present in force.

On the run for three days, Shah dramatically surfaced at a media meet this morning, where he vehemently denied charges that he was involved in the November 2005 gunning down by police of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake gub-battle. He then drove to the CBI’s camp office in Gandhinagar to surrender.

Shah, the minister of state for home, in the Narendra Modi government, had resigned Saturday.