“That was also a government, which used to think big of it by giving 25 connections and this is also a government, which has chose to give gas connection to 5 crore families within 3 years”, he said.
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In Ballia, the prime minister spoke of the pro-poor thrust of his government’s policies. But this Modi is made of different stuff.
Modi had won from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in 2014.
While Akhilesh was copying Amma in the election year to woo the labour class with subsidised meals, pension for construction workers and distribution of cycles to them, the prime minister was hitting at the level of poverty in the state. “Many policies had been made keeping in mind the ballot box and not the real interests of the vast majority of the poor people of our country”, he said at a public meeting here. I can now say with huge satisfaction that we made a decision on Budget allocation for Tarighat-Ghazipur-Mau rail line.
The Ujjwala Yojna, aims at providing LPG connections to 5 crore women beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) families over the next three years. I did not name it after any of my family members or any leader.
The PM further said that Uttar Pradesh had given several Prime Ministers but the number of the poor in the state had only increased.
The PM launched the national scheme on Labour Day in the presence of Governor Ram Naik, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Kalraj Mishra, Manoj Sinha and UP BJP chief Keshav Maurya and BJP MP from Ballia, Bharat Singh.
“The poor of this country have demonstrated that they can change their own destiny with just a little help, a little empowerment”.
“It is unfortunate that Uttar Pradesh, which has given so many PMs to the country has continued to slip on the poverty front even as a lot had been said about eradicating poverty”, Modi said.
Ballia, which ranks among the poorest districts of UP, was represented by former prime minister Chandra Shekhar. Connectivity in this region, rail lines, bridges.
He described Ballia as a land of revolutionaries. He mentioned the rapid progress that has been made in rural electrification and the fruits of development must reach the eastern part of India.
Of the 21 million tonne LPG requirement, almost 40 per cent is imported and this will go up as demand rises by double digit with new connections.
“Schemes that strengthen the people are important, not schemes that strengthen vote banks”.
PM Modi also launched the “Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana” on labour day or May Day. In this century, our mantra should be: all shramiks of the world, let’s make the world one.
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Modi, who was on a day’s visit to Ballia and Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, arrived in Ballia at noon.
