Modi calls oppn 'power hungry' on row over attending Ganesh Puja at CJI's house

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the power-hungry people busy dividing and breaking the society are having trouble with Ganesh Puja

Updated on: Sep 17, 2024, 19:13:02 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Congress and other opposition parties for creating a controversy over his visit to the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s house on Ganesh Utsav, saying that the power-hungry people busy dividing and breaking the society are having trouble with Ganesh Puja.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. (PTI)

“ The Britishers followed the policy of divide and rule. They used to hate Ganesh Utsav. Ganesh Utsav is not just a festival of faith, but it played an important role in the freedom struggle. Dividing us in the name of castes was a weapon of the British. Bal Gangadhar Tilak used community celebrations to awaken the collective conscience of the country. Today, everyone participates in Ganesh Utsav without any discrimination. But its celebration has once again become a point of contention, much like it did during the British colonial era. Even today, the power-hungry people of India who are busy dividing and breaking society are having trouble with Ganesh Puja. You must have seen that the people of Congress and its ecosystem have been angry for the last few days because I participated in Ganpati Puja,” Modi said.

He was launching the Subhadra Yojana in Odisha under which over 1 crore women of the state would get ₹10,000 a year.

Modi said the Congress committed a bigger crime in Karnataka. “These people put the idol of Lord Ganesha behind bars. The whole country is disturbed by those pictures. This hateful thinking and the mentality of poisoning society is very dangerous for our country. That’s why we should not let such hateful forces move forward,” he said.

Modi said the whole country is celebrating the Hyderabad Mukti Divas on September 17 and spoke about the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in uniting the country.

“The foreign powers wanted to break the country while opportunists agreed to break the country into pieces. In that situation, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel came forward and united the country by showing extraordinary willpower. Hyderabad was freed by curbing the anti-India fundamentalist forces there. Hyderabad Liberation Day is not just a date. It is also an inspiration for the integrity of the country, for our duties towards the nation,” he said.

Modi, who arrived in Bhubaneswar in the morning, interacted with the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)-Urban before he launched the Subhadra Yojana, a flagship programme of the state government for empowerment of women.

On Tuesday, 25 lakh women got the first tranche of ₹5,000 under the scheme, a top promise under the “Modi’s Guarantee for Odisha” in the BJP manifesto that helped the party form government on its own for the first time in the state in June this year.

The scheme aims at providing one crore women in the age group of 21 to 60 years with cash assistance of ₹50,000 over five years. The state government plans to spend ₹55,000 crore on the scheme.

Modi also launched a slew of projects on Tuesday laying the foundation stones and dedicating railway projects worth ₹2,800 crore and national highway projects worth ₹1,000 crore through virtual mode. He also released the first instalment of financial assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAYG) to approximately 13 lakh beneficiaries across 14 states. Twenty-six lakh PMAY (Gramin and Urban) beneficiaries celebrated Griha Pravesh during this occasion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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