By Tushar Singh
“I look forward to visiting Vadnagar, my hometown tomorrow morning. This visit will bring back several memories from my childhood”, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had tweeted before visiting his hometown.
Narendra Modi returned home, Vadnagar, for the first time as Prime Minister, to remind his conspirators that they will bite the dust. He addressed a pumped-up crowd for half an hour and reminded everyone why India had elected him to become Prime Minister. Modi had spent his childhood in Vadnagar before he left to devote his life to public service.
Welcoming Modi
To celebrate his return, the cabin where PM Narendra Modi’s father sold tea in Gujarat’s Vadnagar railway station (100 km away from Ahmedabad Railway Station), was decorated with flowers. This is where Narendra Modi got his tag of a ‘Chaiwala’ (tea seller) as he helped his father in the business. The railway station, up until a few months back, was just a small metre gauge station but the work on a broad gauge conversion has begun. At the platform, ahead of PM Modi’s visit, a photography exhibition giving insight into the life of a young PM Modi when he sold tea has been put up. For most Vadnagar residents, it is almost like early Diwali, with clean roads and fairy lights on every landmark and fireworks.
Modi campaigning
Prime Minister Modi had been on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat where he either inaugurated or laid the foundation stones for development projects worth Rs12,000 crores. Modi mentioned his visit to his hometown has filled him with energy “to work more and make more efforts for the development of the nation than before”.
“To accelerate this policy, the current government has decided to set up one medical college for every four Lok Sabha constituencies across the country,” the PM announced while inaugurating a medical college in Vadnagar, claiming that his government has come up with a National Health Policy after a gap of 15 years. The last National Health Policy was brought up by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
After his visit, Modi promptly tweeted, “A welcome that will remain etched in my memory…thank you Vadnagar for the enthusiasm and affection. It inspires me to work even harder.” Modi has never shied away from his humble background so much so that it has now even become a political asset for the BJP. Narendra Modi’s Gujarat can be labelled as a success and a visit to his hometown was a cherry on the cake. Gujarat is a politically crucial state and BJP is definitely using every possible asset it has at its disposal- from development agenda to Modi’s humble background.
Featured Image Source: Pixabay
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