Modi wants meeting between worried parents, Australian High Commission

July 8th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Australian authorities will counsel Indian students on the "dos and don'ts" to be kept in mind while pursuing higher studies Down Under following the spate of attacks on students there, Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy announced Wednesday. McCarthy assured the Andhra Pradesh government that his country would take all steps to protect Indian students.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Friday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and appealed to him to set up a grievance response mechanism in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) for Indian students abroad. He expressed concern over racial attacks on Indian students in Australia and said there should be a joint meeting of Australia high commissioner in India, MEA officials and parents of students in major cities of the country, including Gujarat.

June 2nd, 2009 PATIALA - Worried parents of students studying in Australia Tuesday held a march here to protest against a series of racist attacks on Indian students in that country and demanded a delegation be sent to get full information. Leaders of all major political parties including the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Akali Dal and representatives of various social organisations also participated in the march and accompanied the parents as they submitted the memorandum to Divisional Commissioner (Patiala Range) J.S.

May 8th, 2009 PATHANKOT - Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi Friday said the third front put up by some political parties was not a viable alternative. 'No one knows who is the mother or the father of this third front.

May 3rd, 2009 AMBALA - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Sunday slammed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for 'doing nothing' for Sikhs, who are being targeted by Taliban militants in Pakistan's troubled tribal areas. 'What have you done for the Sikh community (in Pakistan)?' Modi asked while addressing an election rally here in Haryana.

April 30th, 2009 RAJKOT - Former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel surprised all Thursday when he said his arch rival and sucessor Narendra Modi has 'all the qualities to become a prime minister'. 'I think Narendra Modi has all the qualities required by any leader to become the prime minister of the country,' Patel told reporters here.

March 4th, 2009 THANE - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday poked fun at the Congress, saying it should get an Oscar since it was under the party's rule that 'slums had mushroomed in the country' and but for this, 'Slumdog Millionaire' would not have been made. Speaking at an election rally here, Modi said: 'If Congress had not been around, slums would not have been there.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday rebuffed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for saying Pakistan-based terrorists could not have attacked Mumbai without support from within India, prompting Modi to claim he was misquoted.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday evening visited former prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is undergoing treatment for chest infection at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, a statement said Wednesday. 'Modi visited AIIMS and enquired about Vajpayee's health.

February 7th, 2009 NAGPUR - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is proud of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, party leader L.K. Advani said Sunday.

February 7th, 2009 NAGPUR - The Nov 26 attack in Mumbai was not possible without local support to the Pakistani terrorists, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said here Sunday, questioning the central government's position. A handful of boys held so many people at ransom for 60 hours and such an operation could not have been taken place without local support, Modi told the national council meeting of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) here.

January 20th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday honoured 369 best sweepers of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation with cash prizes worth a total of Rs.2.5 million. Describing the sweepers as 'nagar pujaris' or 'city priests' who keep the city clean, Modi said that the state must protect their self-esteem while providing them modern equipments.

January 19th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - A delegation of the backward classes panel Tuesday met Chief Minister Narendra Modi to seek his views on the current reservation policy and to know about the state government's stand on including new classes in the backward class category, a statement issued here said. The National Commission for Economically Backward Classes led by its chairman Major General (retd) S.R.

January 16th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Days after he hogged the limelight with India's top industrialists calling him prime minister material, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said he was not in the race for the top post and that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s senior leader L.K. Advani was the right candidate.

December 30th, 2008 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will spend the first day of the New Year with security personnel in the desert region of Kutch at India's border with Pakistan. 'These jawans are there at the frontier to safeguard the security of our motherland and I laud their immense courage and devotion,' Modi said here Wednesday in a statement.