Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tried to take the BJP to new heights on the wings of poverty. He not only launched a flight for the common man, but also projected himself as poor, who could not even foot his “coffee house bills”.
On his maiden trip to Shimla after becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in fact, tried to woo the poor just before the Assembly elections in the State, scheduled by year-end, by projecting himself to be one of them.
The Modi charisma was seen in full bloom as people did not leave the rally venue despite repeated downpour before the start of the rally.
Addressing the jam-packed Ridge around noon, Modi recollected his old days in Shimla saying that 20 years back, he had addressed people on the Ridge as a BJP worker, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had addressed a rally here.
Terming himself to be a ‘man from amongst the Himachalis’, Modi said that he was indebted to Himachal Pradesh (maine aapka namak khaya hai).
Setting the stage for the next Assembly elections, Modi said that the people of India were in favour of honesty and his Government would continue its crusade against the corrupt. Demonetisation was the first strike on the corrupt and his efforts against the corrupt would continue, he added.
Stressing on the need to focus on the middle class people and the middle class cities, Modi said that both these segments of the society play a significant role in the development of the society.
Terming tier II and tier III cities to be the engine of growth, Modi said that the Government had designed its aviation policy to cater the needs of such cities and improve air connectivity in these cities.
Improving road, rail and air connectivity was the focus of his Government, he said, adding that to improve rail connectivity in Himachal Pradesh, he had revived an old project, which had been pending for 30 years.
Exhorting the people of Himachal Pradesh to go for honesty, honest people, honest system and honest thought, Modi said that he had invited enmity with corrupt due to his attempts against them and he needed people’s support to continue the fight against the corrupt.
He said that providing education for children, employment for youth, irrigation for farmers and medicine for elderly should be the motto of the Government and in the past three years, his Government had taken concrete initiatives in some of these directions.
Speaking on the Government’s efforts to provide cheap medical facilities to the poor, Modi said that after more than a year’s constant negotiations with medical companies, he had been able to bring down the prices of heart stent from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 22,000.
More than 700 medicines had been brought under generic medicine category to provide cheap treatment to the poor, he added.
He said that the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme was introduced to save farming community from the vagaries of weather.
Urging the farmers to go for crop insurance, Modi said that 98 per cent share was born by Government under Fasal Bima Yojana.
Prime Minister, hailing the tourism activity of Shimla and other tourist resorts, said that middle class people and second tier townships play key role for the progress of economy.
Urging the Himachalis to promote digital transactions, he said that the tourism sector in Himachal can witness a particular boost with promotion of digital transactions, as it would ease foreign tourists stay in the state. Government had been promoting digital transactions to make a transparent economy, he added.
In his speech that lasted for 41 minutes, Modi appealed the people to bring an honest Government in Himachal Pradesh and march together with the NDA Government at the Centre.