Asserting that development and good governance are the only ways ahead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday visited his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi as part of nation-wide Good Governance Day celebrations being held by his government.
All MPs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which Mr. Modi had steered to a comprehensive victory in the general elections earlier this year, have been asked to be in their respective Parliamentary constituencies for ‘Sushasan Diwas’ and the Prime Minister through his own visit has sought to lead by example.
Development & good governance are the only ways ahead. Together, let us make a positive impact in people's lives & create a developed India.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >December 25, 2014
“Development & good governance are the only ways ahead.
Together, let us make a positive impact in people’s lives & create a developed India,” the PM tweeted ahead of his visit.
The Prime Minister’s aircraft landed at the Babatpur airport on the outskirts of the city at around noon where he was received by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and state minister Ahmed Hasan, according to airport director S K Malik.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, MoS for Culture Mahesh Sharma and state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai have been camping in the city since Wednesday night.
Mr. Modi is scheduled to visit Banaras Hindu University, founded by Pandit Mohan Malaviya whose name was announced on Wednesday for conferment of the highest civilian honour — the Bharat Ratna.
Significantly, December 25, is also the 153rd birth anniversary of the renowned educationist.
During his day-long tour, his second to Varanasi after becoming the Prime Minister, Mr. Modi is scheduled to inspect cleanliness drive as part of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ at the Assi Ghat along the river Ganga and in some lanes in nearby residential localities.
The Prime Minister will also inaugurate an Inter-University Centre for Teachers’ Education inside the BHU premises.
Mr. Modi will also visit the Diesel Locomotive Works on the outskirts of the city where he will dedicate to the nation a modern, air-conditioned passenger train engine and inaugurate a project for expansion of the DLW.
The Prime Minister is likely to return this evening.
Modi at Assi Ghat
Later, taking forward his Swachh Bharat campaign, Mr. Modi revisited his constituency and lauded people for helping rid the Assi Ghat of mounds of soil and garbage to restore the historical site to its old glory.
In the holy city to mark the Good Governance Day, he supervised the cleanliness campaign and also nominated various people and organisations to join the ‘Swachh Bharat (clean India)’ campaign launched by his government on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 last.
Mr. Modi on November 8 had wielded a spade to remove silt deposited at the ghat along the banks of the Ganga as part of his clean India campaign.
“People, social organisations, municipal coporation and state government have played an important role and we are seeing today that the ghat, which was full of soil, is now back to its old beauty along side Mother Ganga,” he said in a brief address.
The Prime Minister nominated for the campaign Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya, former IPS officer and activist Kiran Bedi, former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, comedian Kapil Sharma, classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, Ramoji Rao of Eenadu group and Aroon Purie of India Today group. He had nominated some people during his last visit as well.
In a first, he also nominated some organisations which included Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Eenadu and India Today groups besides ‘dabbewale’ of Mumbai, who deliver home-made food to lakhs of people in the city.
