Doda/Jammu: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday lavished praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for changing the work culture and perception about democracy by undertaking all round development in the country.
Singh, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, was addressing a public rally after inaugurating the agri start-up exhibition in Doda district, which is part of his Udhampur parliamentary constituency.
This was the minister’s first visit to Doda after he was given a ticket for the third time to fight the Lok Sabha elections from the constituency. He had won the last general elections by a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes.
“It is a matter of happiness that Modi has been able to change the work culture and perception about democracy by undertaking all round development and ensuring delivery of schemes as and where needed,” Singh said.
He said the government has reignited those hopes which had faded and rekindled aspirations among the youth who had resigned to their fate due to the prevailing work environment.
“All the works have been carried out with an urge to serve the general public from the core of the heart and to provide the benefits rising above the politics of caste, creed and religion. The prime minister has sought to create a new work culture in politics which our successors will be bound to follow,” he said.
Singh alleged that earlier governments neglected the entire region of erstwhile Doda district and created social strife by playing politics of division, whereas under Prime Minister Modi “we ensured equitable development and restored communal harmony”.
“Analysts will find it difficult to answer as to why Doda remained backward despite the fact that after independence, there was not a single occasion when Doda did not have its representative both in the Union Cabinet as well as in the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet,” he said.
He said Doda has today emerged on the world map because Bhaderwah has given the world lavender and purple revolution which were exhibited in the Republic Day parade at New Delhi and Modi spoke in detail about it in “Mann Ki Baat”.
Under Modi, the minister said he has also sought to follow a different political culture of reaching out equally to all sections of people regardless of religion or caste.
“The people of Doda belt are traditionally peace loving and patriotic, and they had refused to migrate even during the peak of militancy,” he said.
He said new National Highway 244 from Khillani to Sudhmahadev touching Goha Kalota, approval of Chattergala tunnel and Kaljugar tunnel, series of hydropower projects and airport under Udaan in Kishtwar, Centrally funded Medical College in Doda and High Altitude Medicine Plant in Bhaderwah, all happened in last 10 years.
“A large number of projects brought to the Doda region in the last 10 years have not only brought about transformation but were also meant to change the mindset,” he said, adding various welfare schemes launched not only meant social and economic transformation but also aroused several semi-conscious aspirations, particularly in the youth which had got buried due to dismay and pessimism of the past.
Singh underlined that road connectivity, power supply and medical facilities have been improved in Doda in the last 10 years.
He said this constituency holds distinction as being the lone Lok Sabha constituency where there are three medical colleges, namely in Doda, Kathua and Udhampur.
Later talking to reporters, he expressed confidence in the NDA led by Modi crossing the 400 mark in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
