Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is my test too because this journey is my touchstone.

“The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is in a way my ‘kasauti’ (test) also,” Modi said while addressing the people at an exhibition at the Cutting Memorial Grounds complex in Nadesar area of Varanasi on Sunday.

“It is  my examination... whether whatever I had said and whatever I am doing, I want to hear from you and from the entire country whether it has happened in the right proportion. Whether it has been done for the person for whom it was intended to, and whether the work which was to be done has happened or not," he said.

“Whatever scheme the government makes and for whom it is made, that scheme should reach the people without any hassle,” the prime minister said, adding that there was still news that many people had not received the benefits of the schemes and so the government had decided to provide information about the welfare schemes to the people.

“Knowing the success of implementation of government schemes and hearing from the people who have benefited from it gives self-satisfaction,” Modi said.

The prime minister asserted that if the country develops in the next 25 years, then all traces of troubles will disappear.

“Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is having a positive impact on government officials. The coming generations will reap the fruits of a developed India by 2047,” the prime minister said, describing it as the path to freedom from troubles and saying that this is the task of the country.

Referring to the freedom struggle, the prime minister said that during it, every person in India started saying that “I work for freedom” and seeing this the Britishers ran away.

“Today, let us all think that we have to take the country forward. If you sow these seeds today, this banyan tree will bear fruit only for your children in 2047. If you make up your mind, the destination is not far away,” he said, adding that this work is not political, it is every man’s work.

He said that all the people of the country were trying to fulfill the resolve of a developed India, so it was his duty to take part in it.

“Telling good things creates an environment of goodness. If there is less money in the house then we are not able to fulfill the wishes of the children. Similarly, the country also needs money. Today India has the power to give,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi mocked the Congress slogan of ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty), saying the poor feel empowered and confident when they get a pucca house and gas cylinders for their homes.

“A poor now says that the day he got a gas cylinder stove in his house the difference between the rich and the poor ended for him,” Modi said.

“The children felt humble living in a jhopadi (thatched houses)... there was no confidence. But on getting pucca houses, their life is filled with self-confidence," Modi said.

Earlier, the prime minister visited the exhibition and talked to the students and beneficiaries. In the exhibition, he interacted directly with the beneficiaries of various government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas, SVANidhi, Ujjwala, Suraksha Bima Yojana etc and took information about the schemes.

Apart from the girls who benefitted from Kanya Sumangala Yojana, he also talked to the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat Yojana as well as the doctor present on the spot.

Prime Minister Modi, along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and others, also took the pledge of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra Panch Pran.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, UP ministers Jaiveer Singh, Ravindra Jaiswal, Dayashanker Mishra, Zila Panchayat Chairperson Poonam Maurya, Bharatiya Janata Party state [resident and MLC Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, Mayor Ashok Tiwari and many others were also present at venue, along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Modi reached the Cutting Memorial Ground complex after landing at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Babatpur on his two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency after a 22-kilometre roadshow.

The people welcomed the prime minister during his roadshow by playing drums and showering flowers on him.

When the convoy of the prime minister left for the city by road from Babatpur airport at the same time, an ambulance was seen coming from the rear side. Seeing this, the prime minister’s convoy quickly moved to one side of the road to allow the ambulance to pass.

Seeing this sensitivity, a large number of people standing at the roadside welcomed him with applause.