Vadnagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in public life should be seen as a period of welfare for the poor and foundation-laying for India’s prosperity.
He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’ in Vadnagar and flagging off a bike rally to Varanasi to mark Modi’s birthday. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were also present.
Born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar in Gujarat’s Mehsana district, Modi turned 76 on Thursday. He completes 25 uninterrupted years in public office on October 7, having first taken the oath as Gujarat chief minister in 2001 before becoming prime minister in 2014.
Addressing a gathering, Shah said the 25 years of Modi’s public life “will have to be written in golden letters in history as the years of poor welfare”.
He said the period under Modi’s leadership had laid the foundation for India’s prosperity, made the country more secure and started the process of making India a global leader in infrastructure and digital public infrastructure.
Shah said Modi’s tenure as PM would be remembered as a period of welfare for poor people and claimed that 25 crore people had been lifted out of poverty during this period. He said generations of people had waited for basic necessities such as houses, toilets, tap water, electricity, food and medical treatment.
“His 12-year tenure as prime minister will be known as a golden era for the 80 crore poor people of the country,” Shah said, listing houses, electricity, tap water, five kg of free grain per person per month, health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh, toilets and gas cylinders among the benefits delivered by the Modi government.
Shah said Modi had personally experienced poverty after being born in a poor village and had, despite his circumstances, put before the country a vision of equitable and inclusive development.
He said Modi’s 25-year public life was also marked by sustained personal work and service to the poor, backward classes, Dalits and tribals.
Shah said he had worked with Modi during his organisational years in Gujarat and later when he became the CM and PM.
The Union minister also praised Modi’s simplicity and said he had connected BJP workers across the country with the “Nation First” slogan. He said Modi had treated the entire country as his family.
Referring to Modi’s years as Gujarat CM, Shah listed initiatives including water management, the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, Sagarkhedu Kalyan Yojana, industrial development, Vibrant Gujarat, an education hub and 24-hour electricity supply to villages.
He said the state recorded an agricultural growth of more than eight per cent when Modi was the CM. The Gujarat model was subsequently taken to the national level after Modi took charge of the nation in 2014, he said.
Shah credited the Modi government with introducing what he described as clear policies after a period of policy paralysis and cited GST, the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) trinity, Direct Benefit Transfer, banking reforms, FDI and PLI (Production Linked Incentive) as measures that had contributed to economic development.
He also referred to expansion of roads, railways, airports, ports and digital infrastructure, saying the number of airports in the country had increased from 75 to 150. He mentioned PM Gati Shakti, Digital India and Startup India as initiatives that had opened opportunities for the youth.
On national security, Shah cited the government’s decisions on Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, peace accords in the Northeast and military operations. He also referred to measures relating to women, tribal welfare, defence production and space programmes, including Chandrayaan and Aditya L1.
Shah said Modi’s public life could be summed up in two words — “India First”.
