MODI’S HUMAN TOUCH

Modi’s stand against the VIP culture

Once in Chandigarh, a university organised a convocation programme. It was scheduled for the afternoon. In Chandigarh the schools operate both in the morning and evening shifts. There was concern in the administration regarding PM Modi’s scheduled visit, given the fact that the tight security in place due to the PM’s arrival and participation in the varsity programme would jeopardise students’ movement. The visit was scheduled at a time when morning shift students would return home and evening shift students would be reaching their education institutes for the second half of the day. Hence the administration decided to declare a holiday of schools for the day. The country’s PM was about to attend the convocation ceremony of a university. Even Modi ji knew the situation of Chandigarh well. He was informed of the modalities and the security scenario before his visit. Most importantly, schools were being closed in view of his visit, and this troubled him. After landing at the airport and going through the laid down protocols as he sat in the car, I was beside him. The first question he asked me was, have the schools been closed in Chandigarh today? I nodded in the affirmative. To this he said, this should not have been done just because he was on a visit to the city. My visit should have been like a normal individual, he said. We observed that he loathed the VIP treatment he was getting and wanted to be treated like a common Indian. Kaptan Singh Solanki, Former Governor and administrator of Chandigarh

Modi’s young friend and a promise kept

In Kadana taluka of Mahisagar district (Gujarat), I visited a school at Kotla village. It was the school which Modi ji had visited some 2-3 years back as the state Chief Minister. After the programme during my visit, when I was coming out, a girl from the school named Sonal came up to me with a letter and requested me to deliver the letter to CM Modi. I took the letter, assuring her of handing it over to him. She had written in the letter, “Respected Modi sir. The sapling you had asked me to guard, is now 12-feet tall.” It meant during Modi ji’s visit to the school he had planted the sapling and had given the responsibility of safeguarding it to Sonal and ensure its growth. The next Tuesday after my visit I had a meeting with Modi ji and I told him about my visit to the school at Kotla village of Kadana. Even before I could finish my sentence, Modi ji asked me, “How is Sonal?” I was shocked and surprised at this because out of 6.5 crore Gujaratis, how could he remember the name of a little schoolgirl Sonal? When I handed him over Sonal’s letter, Modi ji fell silent for a while and his eyes welled up with tears. We realised at that time that even if he was the state chief minister, there was a place in his heart for every girl child of Gujarat, for whom he was working tirelessly. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign was born out of this. Dr Sanjay Desai, Gujarat

PM MODI’S MODHERA CONNECTION

I Modhera is close to Modi ji’s heart. The Modheshwari Devi temple at Modhera has long been frequented by Modi ji and members of his family, for she is their family deity. The Modhera sun temple has been resurrected and popularised by the sole efforts of Modi ji. Today tourist inflow to the historical temple has grown by five times after Modi ji got associated with its development. Once during a season of heavy rains, the water tank at the temple got filled up. The PM shared a clip of water gushing down the stairs of the step well with great force and rapidity, which caught the eyes of the world and soon turned it into a tourist hotspot. Taking the effort further, Modi ji took the initiative to introduce a grand light and sound show at the 1,000-year-old temple, which is a permanent itinerary at the temple and is attended by a large number of visitors. A cultural programme of music and dance is also held here annually that is a big tourist draw and infuses new life in the temple. Even during his tenure as the state Chief Minister, Modi ji built good roads and ancillary infrastructure to support the development of Modhera and surrounding areas as an industrial and religious hub. Today it takes less than two hours to reach Modhera from Ahmedabad. Modi ji had said one day big babus would land at Modhera in their helicopters. Today it seems to be coming true. Maruti Suzuki has established their largest plant here at Becharaji from where thousands of cars will be rolled out every year. And the sun temple is now throbbing with tourist activities. Girish Bawa, Tourist guide, Modhera / Rajnibhai Patel, Former Minister, Gujarat / Naresh Thakkar, Gujarat / Ambalal Raval, Gujarat Archaeology Department

COMPILED AND EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA