Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blew the poll bugle rolling out a list of his Government’s women-centric achievements as he virtually inaugurated a number of BJP-backed Durga Pujas in Bengal.
Modi who made part of his persuasive speech in Bengali bringing to mind the contribution of Bengal in freedom struggle and its cultural reawakening said that it was his honour to inaugurate Durga Puja which is essentially a worship of “Nari Shakti” or women empowerment for which his Government too had taken a whole range of steps.
“Bengal and Durga Puja have always enmoured me. This festival is a festival of unity and strength of all of India … inspired by the ideal of Nari Shakti our Government has taken a number of steps from opening Jan Dhan accounts for 22 crore women, giving soft loans to them under the Mudra Yojana, Ujjwala Yojna, launching Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao initiative, granting permanent commission to women in the armed forces, to extending maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks, we have taken a number of steps for their empowerment,” he said, adding his Government has brough in laws against rape making them more stringent “by including death penalty to the culprits.”
Reminding “Atmanirvar Bharat” is not far away the PM said Bengal too would play an important role in making India self-reliant as it had done in the past by taking the lead role in Independence movement and cultural reawaking of the country.
Reminding how Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee inspired nationalism through their works, Modi said, “if I continue to take names of such Bengalis, the day will end but the list will not.”
Reminding that Durga Pujas gives the country a feeling of unity, strength and oneness he said, “In Bengal Maa Durga is worshipped like a daughter which in itself is a symbol of Bengal’s awakened consciousness, spirituality and heritage.
Modi’s speech comes barely seven months ahead of the State Assembly elections in which his party BJP has emerged as the main challenger to the Trinamool Congress displacing the Left Front.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister’s “urgency to inaugurate Durga Puja” senior TMC leader and Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim said, “Where the Prime Minister was in the past years… why is he here to inaugurate Durga Puja when the elections are coming near … everyone understands the political intention behind this initiative. The people of Bengal are too conscious to understand these things.”