Helping India lead the way for nations to follow
PM Narendra Modi’s mantra for governance has been upliftment of the poor, and progress for the nation
Today our Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes two decades as the head of the public office. On October 7, 2001 Modi was first sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. From being the four-term Chief Minister of Gujarat to heading the world’s largest democracy as its ‘Pradhan Sewak’, the 20-year-long journey of public service of Modi has been devoted towards making India a prosperous and strong nation – a Vishwaguru. A ‘karmyogi’ par excellence, Modi has given our nation the confidence of fulfilling our dream of a ‘New India’.
Modi took over as Chief Minister of Gujarat when the state was reeling under unprecedented catastrophe following the massive earthquake in Bhuj. From rebuilding Bhuj to strengthening Gujarat’s economy and infrastructure, to spearheading the BJP’s challenge against the Congress at the Centre, and now working towards total transformation of India, the last two decades have been the most rewarding for the BJP, for Gujarat and now our nation. Treading the path of commitment, devotion, dedication and selfless service, the Pradhan Sewak’s ‘mantra’ for governance has been upliftment of poor and backward classes and progress and prosperity of our nation. Today, India stands amongst the leading powers in the world, while the BJP has been recognised globally for fulfilling its pledge of ‘Sewa hi Sangathan’.
As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi gave to India and to the world a new model of development which was based on holistic development with social welfare at its foundation. The rebuilding of quake-hit Bhuj, placement of the state as the world’s most investment-friendly investment destination through ‘Vibrant Gujarat’, making the state self-reliant and self-sufficient on the power generation front, building world-class infrastructure – all these aspects of development and progress gave Gujarat a recognition on the global arena.
On the social front, Modi transformed Gujarat with focus on rural hinterland. Schemes like ‘Kanya Kelavni Yojna’, ‘Shala Praveshotsav’ and ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ improved school enrollment and female literacy, also created a national benchmark for women empowerment. The ‘Gujarat Model’ of rural development became a case study for the entire world where schemes like ‘Jyotigram Yojna’, ‘eGram Vishwagram’, water conservation and groundwater rejuvenation projects changed the face of rural Gujarat.
India’s watershed moment came in 2014 when the nation brought to an end the decade-long era of Congress-led UPA government marked by corruption, misrule and nepotism. The massive mandate came in favour of Modi who took the pledge to serve the country not as a Prime Minister but as a ‘Pradhan Sewak’. From the very first day he re-dedicated and committed himself towards working for the poorest of the poor, and thus began the journey of the making of a ‘New India’. In the past seven years, Modi has worked tirelessly trying to touch the lives of every Indian – the poor and deprived classes, our minorities, youth and women folk, farmers and labourers, students and children, urban and rural classes, et al.
Modi is a mass leader, he is also the world’s most popular leader. His tenure first as Chief Minister and now as Prime Minister has been marked by several incidents of impromptu connection with the masses. As Chief Minister of Gujarat, he used to personally supervise relief and rescue operations during calamities and would land up at the disaster site to take stock of the situation and to get first-hand information. I fondly recall two incidents here. One was Modi touching the feet of an elderly woman at a programme in Chhattisgarh and another one is him washing the feet of sanitation workers to acknowledge their contribution in ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. Our Pradhan Sewak is also a great communicator with exceptional convincing power. For instance, his simple message from the Mamallapuram beach by removing garbage became a nationwide movement of ‘Clean India’.
Today India stands as a confident and self-reliant nation under Modi. We are excelling on social and economic fronts, thanks to the effective policies and programmes of the Narendra Modi government which include Jan Dhan Yojna, Jan Suraksha Yojna, Mudra Yojna, Digital India, Ujjalwala Yojna, Ujala Yojna, Ayushman Bharat Yojna, Kisan Samma Nidhi Yojna, Awas Yojna, Soubhagya Yojna, Atma Nirbhar Bharat, and Make in India among others.
The greatest achievements of our Pradhan Sewak have been the successful resolution of some old disputes and problems and legacy issues which no previous governments dared to touch as they were considered unresolvable. The scrapping of Article 370 to fulfil the nation’s commitment of ‘Ek Desh, Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan’, bringing to an end the regressive triple ‘talaq’ to empower Muslim women, the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of grand temple at the Ram Janmbhoomi in Ayodhya, giving constitutional status to the OBC Commission, Citizenship Amendment Act, 10% reservation to poor belonging to the general category, GST – all these decisions are the important milestones crossed by the Narendra Modi government which are going to lay a strong foundation of our Nation.
On the nation’s safety and security, Modi by okaying the cross-border strikes on terrorist camps gave a clear message to the world that enough is enough. Similarly, the Modi government shunned the flip-flop foreign policy of its predecessor and charted a new course to strengthen ties with its old friends and make new ones. Modi is the one who got ‘Yoga’ the true global recognition, thus establishing the supremacy of India’s rich culture and traditions.
Our Prime Minister led from the front during the pandemic. From timely announcement of the lockdowns to spearheading the vaccine development and nationwide vaccination drive, Modi led India’s fight against the pandemic at a time when the world’s most developed nations failed to cope up with the crisis. Welfare schemes for the poor and needy like Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna and Gareeb Kalyan Rojgar Yojna are a testimony of it. Despite negative propaganda of the Opposition, our scientists were able to develop two vaccines while the Modi government kickstarted the world’s largest and fastest vaccination drive. Today we have crossed the 93 crore vaccination mark and by December we hope to vaccinate all our citizens.
We feel fortunate to have Modi as our ‘Pradhan Sewak’. He is bringing tangible changes in the lives of every Indian and is working hard to reestablish India as a ‘Vishwaguru’. I pray that he can fulfil all his pledges and commitments made to the people of India. In the current global geopolitical scenario, India needs him more than ever before.
