Addresing a BJP rally on the eve of Deen Dayal Upadhyay's birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisioned these eight dreams for 21st century India:
* Garibi se mukt, Samriththi se yukt (free from poverty, full of prosperity)
* Bhedbhav se mukt, Samanta se yukt (free from discrimination, filled with equality)
* Anyay se mukt, Nyay se yukt (free from injustices, ensconced in justice)
* Gandagi se mukt, Swachchhta se yukt (free from squalor, covered with cleanliness)
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* Bhrashtachar se mukt, Pardarshita se yukt (free from corruption, complete with transparency)
* Berozgari se mukt, Rozgari se yukt (free from unemployment, enriched with employment)
* Mahila utpidan se mukt, Stree samman se yukt (free from atrocities against women, full with respect for women)
* Nirasha se mukt, Asha se yukt (free from despondency, full of hope)
Prime Minister listed these visions at the end of his hour long speech at Kozhikode where top BJP cadres have assembled for BJP's three day National Council meeting.
The date and the venue of BJP's conclave has been arranged in a fashion to pay its tributes to their guiding light Deen Dayal Upadhyay who was elected Jan Sangh's president at this coastal town in 1967. Tomorrow is also the birth anniversary of Upadhyay and BJP has planned to launch year long activities to commemorate it's icon's birth centenary year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in this context, burnished Upadhyay's iconography today at Kozhikode rally by pitching him in the league of Mahatma Gandhi and Ram Manohar Lohia.
"Three great men have influenced Indian political thought last century - Mahatma Gandhi, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Ram Manohar Lohia. The imprints of Gandhi, Deen Dayal and Lohia's thoughts are very clear on the Indian polity today," Prime Minister said reminding how he was inspired by Gandhi and Deen Dayal's thoughts when he had declared that his government will be dedicated to the poor when he was elected to become the Prime Minister in May 2014.
Modi loudly wondered whether Upadhyay's election as Jan Sangh president 50 years back in Kozhikode made news to underscore that it was the commitments of his ideas that BJP is now the largest political party in the country.
The BJP has decided to commemorate Upadhyay's birth centenary as 'Garib Kalyan' year with BJP ruled state governments tasked to implement schemes for the welfare of downtrodden with much vigour as a tribute to their icon.
( Originally published on Sep 24, 2016 )
