Highlighting the BJP-led Central Government’s accomplishments over the last eight years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the party has been working towards building the India Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel had dreamt of. The Centre strives to serve the poor and unemployed, particularly in times of crisis, PM Modi said.
Speaking at a public event in Gujarat’s Rajkot on May 28, the Prime Minister spoke about how the Centre served the nation during the Covid-19 pandemic. “When the epidemic started, there was a problem of food and drink in front of the poor, so we opened the granaries of the country,” he said.
He went on to describe the tremendous influence the state’s culture and values had on him and how they drove him to serve the country. “I have left no stone unturned in the service of the motherland because of the values and education I have received here. The people of Gujarat taught me how to live for society,” he said.
Later, the Prime Minister addressed a seminar of leaders of various cooperative institutions on the subject ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’, in Gandhinagar. Over 7,000 representatives from various cooperative institutions of the state participated in the seminar.
There, PM Modi virtually inaugurated the world’s first nano urea liquid plant by the Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (Iffco) near Kalol town in Gandhinagar district. It has been built at a cost of around Rs 175 crore.
While addressing the seminar cooperative institutions’ leaders, Modi said that the prices of fertilisers have increased due to the pandemic and war in Ukraine, but the Government has ensured that farmers in the country do not face scarcity of urea and other inputs. “We will do everything that is required to be done to strengthen farmers,” he said.
On arriving in Rajkot in the morning, PM Modi inaugurated Matushri KDP Multi-speciality Hospital at Atkot, a village in Jasdan taluka of Rajkot. “When people’s efforts connect with Government’s efforts, our strength to serve increases,” he said at the function, adding that the modern hospital in Rajkot is a major example for this.
While addressing a gathering at Atkot, PM Modi said he has spared no effort while serving the country in the last eight years, and not done any such work that would make people hang their heads in shame. During this period, the Government has worked for the uplift of the poor, he said.
“Mahatma Gandhi wanted an India in which the poor, Dalits, Adivasi and women are empowered, where cleanliness and health are part of life, where economy is based on swadeshi (local) solutions,” Modi said, adding that his Government has worked for all this.
In the last eight years, pucca houses were provided to over three crore families; 10 crore families were saved from the ignominy of open defecation (by way of constructing toilets), nine crore women were saved from the adverse impact of smoke (by providing LPG connections); electricity connections were provided to 2.5 crore families and tap water connections were given to six crore families; over 50 crore people are covered to get free treatment (under PMJAY insurance scheme), PM Modi said.
“These are not just figures, but this is a proof of our commitment to provide dignity to the poor of the country. In the last eight years, my Government has worked for the uplift of the poor,” he said.
“With the mantra of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas aur sab ka prayas’ (everyone’s support, everyone’s development and everyone’s trust), we have given new direction to the development of the country,” Modi said. The PM added he did not study poverty from books or through television as he himself went through the phase.