Narendra Modi kicks off national campaign in Gandhinagar

There was no sign of stress of BJP’s internal conflict as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi kicked off his national election campaign from the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.

While inaugurating the All India Conference on Livestock and Dairy Development, Modi addressed around 5,000 people gathered from 200 districts and 20 states of the country.

Many of these states were even Congress and UPA-ruled states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh as well as some north-eastern states.

Before starting his speech, Modi played his strategic move to connect with the people of other states, mostly farmers, emotionally. He showed a film on the proposed project of Statue of Unity — world’s tallest statute of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Like he had appealed to the people of Gujarat to bring soil and water from every village of the state, Modi appealed to the country’s farmers to send a small piece of iron from any of their tools. “I want you to give me a piece of iron from the tools that you are using in your farms. I want only one piece from each village of this country to pay tribute to the Iron Man of the country from the farmers’ fraternity of India,” he said.

Modi also announced that a mission to collect such pieces from all the villages of the country would be launched from October 31 to January 26 and that iron would be melted and used in the making of Statue of Unity.

Besides, Modi spoke about Mahatma Gandhi and his dream of Gram Swaraj for the development of villages. At the same time, without naming Shashi Tharoor, he retorted: “A leader at the Centre said Gandhiji’s idea of Gram Swaraj is not relevant today. But I would say that Gandhi’s ideas are as relevant today as they were in his time. To realise his idea, one should have confidence in him and in oneself. How can leaders, who do not have confidence in themselves, instil confidence in others?”

Modi further stated: “Had we understood Gandhi, we would have found the solution to environmental issues like global warming.”

He also emphasised the use of technology and scientific practice in agriculture and animal husbandry. “Gandhi was never against technology and science. We should incorporate technology and scientific practics in farming and animal husbandry to increase production.”  Modi also invited the country’s farmers to take part in the agri-tech fair being organised by the state government in September-October. “Many of the country’s farmers go to Israel every year to know and understand new agriculture practices. But we are bringing global agriculture technologies, including that of Israel, to Gujarat. I invite all the farmers to visit the agri-tech fair.”

Sources also indicated that the government was planning to organise national-level events in Gandhinagar for health and education sectors, too.

CM’s wit lights up meet as power trips
While Modi was projecting Gujarat government’s schemes for animal welfare and milk procurement, electricity suddenly went off. Ironically, the CM was talking about how the Jyotirgram scheme (24-hour power supply in state) had helped to reduce wastage of milk. 

So, darkness descended for 5 -7 minutes. Once supply resumed, the audience was treated to Modi’s sense of humour. “We had to face the experience as we are all from villages,” had the entire gathering rolling in laughter.  Then, taking a dig at the media, he said: “One thing is sure. Whether you may or may not read the news of this conference in the newspapers tomorrow, you will read about the power failure at the conference for sure.”