Previous govts neglected centres of faith: PM Modi
New Delhi, October 21
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused previous governments of leaving centres of faith across the country in a state of neglect and said these places were now being restored to their lost glory.
Addressing a rally at Mana village near the famous Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand, he cited examples of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, Ujjain and Ayodhya, where major reconstruction works have been carried out in recent years, PM Modi attributed the “years of neglect” to a “slave mentality”.
In view of the upcoming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people of HP were all set to take a leaf out of Uttarakhand’s book and elect the BJP for the second consecutive time. “I recently visited a number of areas in Himachal Pradesh. There is a lot of talk about Uttarakhand there,” he said.
“Uttarakhand voters’ decision to re-elect the BJP to power for the second consecutive term to take advantage of the double-engine system and develop the state at a faster pace is inspiring the people of Himachal also to do likewise,” he said.
The fact that no party has ever been re-elected to power in Himachal Pradesh for the second consecutive term has been made one of the focal points of its campaign by the opposition Congress in the state, where the Assembly elections are slated to be held on November 12.
Uttarakhand, too, had a similar electoral history but it was interrupted in the last Assembly elections held in February this year when the BJP managed to secure majority for the second straight term.
The PM today laid the foundation stone for two road-widening projects and two ropeway projects worth more than Rs 3,400 crore. While one of the two ropeway projects would link Govindghat with Hemkund, the second one would link the Kedarnath shrine with Gaurikund.
The ropeway in Kedarnath will be 9.7-km long and will reduce the travel time between Kedarnath and Gaurikund from seven hours at present to only 30 minutes. The Hemkund ropeway will be 12.4-km long and reduce the travel time from more than a day to only about 45 mins. The ropeway will also connect Ghangaria, which is the gateway to the Valley of Flowers National Park.
