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Viksit Bharat Yatra: Union ministers connect with beneficiaries in U.P.
Ten Union ministers, who connected with beneficiaries of various welfare schemes in their Lok Sabha constituencies in U
Ten Union ministers, who connected with beneficiaries of various welfare schemes in their Lok Sabha constituencies in U.P. during PM Narendra Modi’s virtual interaction with beneficiaries as part of ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ on Saturday, said linking poor, farmers, women and youths with government schemes and initiatives was the focus of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s yatras.
Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani arrived in her Amethi constituency to make people take the oath of ‘Viksit Bharat’, one that seeks to align the masses with Modi’s vision of a developed India by 2047.
“The Viksit Bharat Yatras have so far travelled across 40,000 villages across the country. Now, there is a direct communication between the government and the people,” she said while listing various schemes of the government and how they had a positive impact on the poor and the downtrodden. Some ministers said the opposition’s push on caste census would have little meaning till the poor were empowered.
“Earlier schemes were run for the sake of it. Now, the focus is on 100% saturation. Opposition talks of caste census but what will that census achieve until the poor are empowered,” said country’s junior finance minister Pankaj Choudhary, a Lok Sabha MP from Maharajganj. He is an OBC (Kurmi).
Union minister of state for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh from the scheduled castes made people take the ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) pledge. On the occasion, a short film on how the country progressed in the past nine years was also telecast through mobile video vans.
Country’s junior home minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ said Modi has clearly outlined his four castes— youth, poor, women and farmers. “When they develop, the country will develop too and that is when country will realise the goal of Viksit Bharat,” Teni said in Kheri, his Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP’s spectacular triple triumph in Hindi heartland states has brought the focus back on welfare schemes and their ‘labharthis (beneficiaries)’ and that is why there was added emphasis on covering as many people with government schemes as possible.
Heavy industries minister Mahendra Nath Pandey in Chandauli, minister of state for surface transport General (retd) VK Singh in Ghaziabad, rural development minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in Fatehpur, housing minister Kaushal Kishore in Mohanlalganj, minister of state for health and family welfare SP Singh Baghel in Agra, fisheries minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in Muzaffarnagar and BJP ally and Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel, the minister of state for commerce and industries in Mirzapur, also interacted with the masses.
