Gujarat elections: Did Modi rally need a leg-up from factory workers?

Is it true that the Bharatiya Janata Party's Morbi unit in Gujarat forced industries to shut down so that the workers employed there could attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally to fill vacant seats? A section of social media users claimed so Wednesday even as a letter in Gujarati went viral on Twitter.

The letter in question asked those involved in the ceramic industry in Morbi to shut down operations and send 20-25 workers each to Modi's rally. Twitter user TheAgeOfBananas, who has been tweeting reports on the Gujarat election campaigning via his handle @iScrew posted a screenshot of the letter and claimed that members of ceramic industry association and factory owners received the message.

Here are the day's events, brought to you by TheAgeOfBananas:

According to several reports, Modi's rallies are receiving a lukewarm response in the poll-bound state, forcing organisers to take such extreme steps. At a time when industrialists in the state are facing the brunt of a hasty implementation of Goods and Services Tax GST, such a move could further hurt their interests and business.