Shimla: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday kick-started the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the state assembly polls slated for November this year, targeting the Congress (without naming it) for its “vikrut mansikta” (biased mindset) that led to the lopsided development of India, particularly hill states, for decades.
Speaking on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Dussehra, he added that BJP governments at Centre and state have brought development and the “double engine” growth model would turn Himachal into medical hub of the country.
“It was due to this mindset that a large part of our country lived in deprivation and our hill states lacked even basic amenities. Why should good roads, education and health institutions exist only in big cities?” Modi said at a rally at Bilaspur, after inaugurating the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) there and the Hydro Engineering College at Bandla.
He said that the country has left that mindset in the last eight years (since the BJP came to power) and is marching ahead with “new and modern” thinking. Talking about the change, Modi said his government was not just laying foundation stones for projects, but also inaugurating them, which has never happened before. “This is our style of functioning and it has given a new identity to India,” he said.
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{{/usCountry}}Modi also pointed out that the schemes launched by his government have benefited women the most. “More than 50% beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat (the government’s health insurance scheme) are women and similarly Swachh Bharat Yojana, Ujjwala, Matruvandana, free sanitary pads scheme and Har Ghar Jal Abhiyan have empowered women,” the PM said.
“It is the priority of the double-engine government to ensure the dignity of mothers and sisters by providing them with safety, security, respect, and health,” he said.
In the evening, the PM participated at International Kullu Dussehra celebrations and expressed his happiness to be part of it. The International Kullu Dussehra Festival is being celebrated here from October 5 to 11 at the Dhalpur Ground in Kullu, where 300 deities of the Kullu valley congregate.
The BJP is in power in the state, where its main rival is seen as the Congress; since 1985, the state has alternated between the two parties.
Modi added that earlier people from Himachal used to go to Chandigarh and Delhi for medical facilities and job opportunities. That has stopped, as it is the Centre’s attempt to minimise the expense on medicines and also to ensure that they get the required treatment without going to far off places, he said.
Calling himself the son of Himachal Pradesh, PM Modi said that the double-engine government has helped the state scale new heights of development and today it has an IIT, an IIIT, an IIM and a Central University.
The PM said that Himachal Pradesh played a crucial role in “rashtra raksha” (national security) and now with the newly inaugurated AIIMS at Bilaspur, it would also play a pivotal role in “jeevan raksha” (saving lives)..
Describing Himachal as “land of opportunities”, Modi said that Medical Device Park and Bulk Drug Park would expand Himachal’s role in the medical sector and the state has a vast potential for medical tourism. Himachal Pradesh was recently chosen as one of the three locations in India for a bulk drug facility.
He said that medical tourism is another important sector needed to be promoted in Himachal so that when people from across the world come to India, they visit the state for its holistic healing with world-class health facilities and a beautiful and healthy environment.
“The inauguration of AIIMS Bilaspur, Atal Tunnel, Hydro-Engineering college (at Bandla), and Medical Device Park (at Nalagarh), it all could be possible because of your votes. It is because of you only that you bless me and when I bring development projects to the state, Jairam Thakur turns them successful,” the PM said.
He said the development projects inaugurated today on the occasion of Vijayadashami will play an important role in achieving the vision of a developed India by 2047 by following the ‘Panch Pran’ (five vows).
These vows include having developed India by 2047, end the slavery mindset, to be proud of country’s legacy and heritage and ensuring unity and solidarity. He said the country has met various challenges in the past 75 years and there were certain unfulfilled dreams, “the next 25 years are very significant for our country”.
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“I am elated to provide the citizens of Himachal Pradesh citizens with the gifts of projects of education, health, and infrastructure worth thousands of crores,” the PM said, while seeking blessings for the country by joining the Raghunath Ji Yatra. “I am very fortunate to participate in the Kullu festival after so many years,” he added.
Speaking at the inauguration of AIIMS, BJP national president JP Nadda termed it a historic day for Bilaspur (his town), and Himachal Pradesh. “For decades, we got nothing. We wouldn’t have dreamt of having an AIIMS in our town. We saw a ray of hope when the people elected the BJP government in 2014,” said Nadda. He said the people of Bilaspur were displaced not once but many times. “It is Narendra Modi who took care of us and today we have the AIIMS and several development projects.”
Hitting out at the BJP, the Congress attacked chief minister Jai Ram Thakur over alleged unfulfilled promises and the fiscal health of the state. “Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur should tell people about the major projects announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Himachal in the last eight years,” said party leader Sukhvindr Singh Sukhu. “The state is under a hug debt burden and chief minister should tell people how much loan has been waived off,” he said, adding that the CM should have sought a financial package from Prime Minister to the bailout the debt ridden state.