Striking an emotional chord with the people of his parliamentary constituency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the focus of his government was on accelerating the pace of development in the eastern parts of the country, including the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, that had virtually remained neglected since Independence, and the large number of projects initiated in Varanasi apart from the Puvanchal Expressway in Azamgarh were part of that vision. Modi addressed two rallies in this belt of purvanchal (eastern UP) on Saturday. Though Modi spoke a lot about politics in Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, he avoided raising political issues in Varanasi, except saying that “his government had a lot of challenges in 2014 as instead of cooperating with teh government, the then state government had created a lot of hurdles”. Indirectly criticising the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Modi said that after his government came to power, work on cleaning the river Ganga had speeded up whereas during the UPA regime, despite a huge investment, the condition and health of the Ganga had deteriorated as the people concerned had filled their own chests. The PM said that during the last four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, the face of Varanasi had changed as it had marched from tradition to transformation and maintaining its culture it was turning into a smart city.
The Prime Minister said that during the NDA’s present rule, more than 200 projects worth Rs 21,000 crore were launched for Varanasi city, apart from projects worth Rs 1,000 crore on Saturday. “This pace of development will continue,” he added. Pointing to the laying of foundation stone of a BPO centre of TCS in Varanasi, Modi said it would give jobs to 250 youths in the beginning and later on its capacity would be increased to 1200. Pointing to the laying of foundation stone of a big factory of Samsung in Noida, the PM said that during his government, the number of mobile phone companies in the country had increased from two to 120 and out of them 50 were in UP.
The PM praised the Yogi Aditynath government for attracting investors in the state. He also hailed the enthusiastic response of Banarasis during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron, saying “both of them are still praising and recalling their visit to Varanasi”.
Modi asked the people to get ready for another such programme when the eyes of entire world would be on Kashi where a big conference of People’s of Indian Origins (PIOs) would be held from January 21 to 23 next year. He hoped that the people of Varanasi would show the same spirit as they had shown during the visit of Shinzo Abe and Macron when a large number of dignitaries from across the world would visit the city next year. Modi also flagged off a MEMU train from Varanasi City to Ballia apart from inaugurating electrification of Varanasi-Ballia route. He also inaugurated the Perishable Cargo at Raja Talab, saying that it was one of the projects of which he had laid the foundation stones.
Besides, he also laid the foundation stone of International Convention Centre, widening of Panchkoshi Marg among nearly 30 projects. The function was also attended by Government Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP state chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister Manoj Sinha and Japanese envoy in India, among many others.