At his first public address in Ahmedabad after the thumping victory in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha Polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the next five years to be crucial to take concrete steps to make India a trouble-free country.
He equated his previous tenure as Prime Minister during 2014-19 to the five years of 1942-47 before Independence as being crucial in building the foundation for a strong India.
Addressing BJP supporters at the party’s Ahmedabad office in Khanpur, he said, “If we see the five years before Independence between 1942-47, they were crucial to revive the Indian spirit and energise people to give a fight to the external forces and come out of problems. This is a similar opportunity to awaken the public conscience and work to scale new achievements for the country. We must work as one society with one purpose in one direction to achieve this goal.”
On a two-day visit to their home State, Prime Minister Modi and BJP President Amit Shah were given a simple welcome without much celebrations in memory of the victims of Surat fire that claimed 22 lives on Friday. Modi told the gathering that his arrival in the State was to convey his and the party’s gratitude to the people for giving such a massive mandate.
After arriving at Ahmedabad airport, Modi and Shah offered floral tributes to the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the airport. From there, the leaders reached the State BJP headquarters at JP Chowk in the Khanpur area. Notably, as the then BJP Organisation Secretary, Modi, lived here in a room in the late 1980s during the party’s formative years in the State.
Modi will stay overnight in Gandhinagar and on Monday morning will visit his mother Hiraba to take her blessings at his younger brother’s house at Raisan area in Gandhinagar before leaving for Varanasi.