PM cancels visit to Varanasi due to heavy rainfall
PM cancels visit to Varanasi due to heavy rainfall
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke about a number of social issues on the Mann Ki Baat radio programme, but chose to avoid any reference to the political storm generated by the Lalit Modi issue, prompting the Congress to warn him that the issue would continue to “haunt” him. The CPI and AAP also attacked the PM for remaining silent on the controversy.
In the monthly programme, the Prime Minister refrained from speaking on politics or the recent controversies surrounding Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi issue, which some quarters were expecting.
Among various topics, he talked about the girl child, voicing concern over the sex ratio in 100 districts of the country, with the situation being more serious in Haryana. He pitched for a mass campaign to save the girl child. “Sometimes, some people feel that I should make big government announcements in the Mann Ki Baat programme. No. For that, I work day and night. With you, I do light-hearted talk and I get pleasure from that only,” Mr Modi said.
Later, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed disappointment over the PM’s “failure” to speak on the Lalit Modi controversy. “All over India, no one is ready to listen to Mann Ki Baat ... Everyone wants to listen to the voice of people in the programme,” said Mr Azad, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “It is in the interest of the Prime Minister to take immediate action against those involved in corruption. Otherwise, nationally and internationally, it is going to haunt him wherever he goes,” he told reporters.
In Tamil Nadu, Mr Chidambaram also questioned the PM’s silence, saying, “The Prime Minister, who criticised Manmohan Singh for being silent, is silent now.” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh alleged he was helping the former IPL chief. “Let Narendra Modi come out clean on this. They (BJP) talk of morality ad accountability, but when it comes to morality and accountability to be practised by the BJP, they said that what we say is the absolute truth,” he said.
The PM, during the 20-minute programme, also spoke about three recently-launched social security schemes and three developmental schemes, including “housing for all” by 2022, as well as the Yoga Day celebrated on June 21. He also emphasised the need to save water and plant trees to preserve the environment.
Mr Modi mentioned the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save daughters, educate daughters)” scheme launched by the government. He mentioned that a sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana, Sunil Jaglan, had started a “selfie with daughter” competition wherein fathers were to post their “selfies” with their daughters.
The PM asked all fathers to send their “selfies” with their daughters to him, out of which he would re-tweet the good ones. “It gives pleasure that in the same Haryana, a sarpanch of a small village can give such a dimension to the Beti Bachao programme. It raises new hopes. That is why I appreciate this initiative. But it also gives me an inspiration, and that is why I urge you to click pictures with your daughters and post those on #selfiewithdaughter,” Mr Narendra Modi said, adding that they should also write a tagline, in any language, that strengthens the initiative.
Talking about his initiative for building toilets in all government schools, he recalled that he had made the announcement during his first Independence Day speech last year. “I had said that we will complete this task by next Independence Day. To say that the work that could not be done in 60 years will be completed in one year requires a lot of courage as almost 4.5 lakh toilets had to be built. But today I can say with satisfaction that, while Independence Day is still some time away, the work to construct toilets in all schools has almost been completed, although the task is not finished yet,” he said.
To promote social security in the country he suggested that on the upcoming Raksha Bandhan, boys should “gift” these policies to their sisters, and even their maids and labourers. The PM also talked about three developmental schemes launched a few days ago — the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and Housing for All (Urban) schemes.
He also asked the countrymen to be proud of their history and culture and propagate it as the world is eager to know more about India. In this context, he referred to the Yoga Day celebrations. He also mentioned how it was celebrated in all the developed and developing countries to demonstrate that the “sun never sets on yoga”.
He asked IT professionals to create an online yoga activity so that more awareness is created about it as also a database of teachers in this field.
“There should be a start from somewhere. This will also become a new power. I see the recent events from another perspective also. We have seen how a working government, a running government, can achieve results once targets are set. We should not forget that a year ago there was despondency all around. Only one voice was heard — ‘Nothing is happening”,” he said.
“Now imagine. Ayush is a small department in the government to which nobody paid any attention earlier. But on Yoga Day it led and organised such a big event. So, if a target is fixed, even a small unit can do big things,” he said.
