Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week summed up his eight years in office so far as a relentless pursuit of the India envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, without once allowing or doing - even if inadvertently - anything that would “make citizens of the country hang their hands in shame”.
He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of a 200-bed K D Paravadiya Multi-specialty Hospital at Atkot, about 55 km from Rajkot city, in Jasdan taluka. The hospital has been built by BJP leader Bharat Boghra with the support of Shree Patel Samaj, Atkot.
“My government has provided over 30 million pucca houses to the poor, toilets to more than 100 million families, cooking gas cylinders to over 90 million women, electricity connection to over 25 million poor families, piped water (Nal Se Jal) to more than 60 million families, free medical treatment up to Rs 500,000 to over 500 million Indians,” the PM said listing his government’s achievements during his tenure.
Modi said that these were not mere statistics, but proof of his commitment to providing a dignified life to the poor. “In the past eight years, I have spared no effort to serve the nation. I have neither allowed, nor done anything personally that will make you or even a single person in the country ashamed. We have made an honest attempt to build an India as envisioned by Bapu and Sardar,” the PM said.
Virtually inaugurating the world’s first Nano Urea (liquid) plant constructed by IFFCO at Kalol in Gandhinagar district, PM Modi said despite the high prices of fertilisers in the international market due to the pandemic, coupled with a surge in prices because of the (Ukraine) war, the Centre has ensured that farmers have got fertilizers at no additional cost.
Mahatma Gandhi wanted an India in which the poor, Dalits, Adivasis and women are empowered, cleanliness and health are part of life, the economy is based on swadeshi (local) solutions,” said PM Modi adding that his government’s slogan ‘Sabka saath, sab ka vikas, sabka vishwas aur sab ka prayas’ has given a new direction to populist development.
