Ahmedabad: In a bid to highlight BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's tea seller background, party workers in Gujarat are renaming the tea stalls to 'Namo' tea stall. However, the move came under criticism in Naroda Patiya which was the worst hit area during the 2002 riots.
The residents of Naroda Patiya criticised the move and called it a cheap publicity stunt. Ahesan Shaikh said, "It is a cheap publicity stunt and I completely disapprove this."
A tea shop run by Zubair Shaikh in Odhav area was too re-branded as Namo tea stall by BJP activists. Zubair Shaikh, in his forties, is Qutubuddin Ansari's friend, the tailor whose photo became the face of Gujarat riots. He, however, said, "BJP workers came and asked whether I had any objection if they put up Modi's photo to which I said no, so it has been put up. "Qutubuddin too has no objection over renaming the shop," Zubair added.
The idea to rename the stalls came from Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha leader Prakash Gurjar. Till now over 100 tea stalls have been named after Modi and the idea is to do the same across Ahmedabad.
There were even allegations that the BJP workers were forcing owners to rename their tea stalls, but Gurhar outrightly rejected them. "The first tea stall that we rebranded was of a Muslim brother and he voluntarily agreed," he said.
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