Ahmedabad, Sep 15 (PTI) A bike rally will be flagged off to Varanasi from Vadnagar in Gujarat, the birthplace of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on September 17 as part of the BJP’s ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’, marking Modi’s 25 years of public service, which will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The ‘Vadnagar to Varanasi’ and ‘Varanasi to Vadnagar’ bike rallies will be flagged off simultaneously from the two cities on Modi’s birthday on September 17 and will culminate on October 7, BJP leader and Lok Sabha member VD Sharma told a press conference in Gandhinagar.
Modi had served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from October 7, 2001 to May 22, 2014. He represents the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.
“The flag-off event in Vadnagar will be attended by Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, state unit BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Union Minister Anupriya Patel among others,” said VD Sharma, the national in-charge of the Vadnagar-Varanasi bike rally.
The Varanasi event will be attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister Chirag Paswan, among other leaders.
“The rally starting from Vadnagar will traverse various parts of the country before reaching Varanasi, while the journey originating in Varanasi will proceed towards Vadnagar,” said Sharma.
The BJP has organised the campaign to mark 25 years of Modi’s public service, from his journey as a party worker to becoming the chief minister of Gujarat and later the prime minister, Sharma said.
“The rally will cover around 40,000 km, passing through 193 districts and approximately 1,159 villages across ten states. Around 1,000 youths will participate in the two-way journey,” Sharma told reporters.
Ahead of the Yatra’s departure from Vadnagar, ‘sub-yatras’ (feeder journeys) rolled out on September 13 from four zones and are scheduled to reach Vadnagar by September 16 night.
Organisers also said the sub-yatras are conducting service activities such as tree plantation, cleanliness drives, distribution of notebooks to students and interactions with beneficiaries of government schemes.
The main rally will also focus on cleanliness drives and campaigns for a drug-free, TB-free and plastic-free India and water conservation. Sanitation workers will also be honoured during the journey.
The bike rally will pass through parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh earlier affected by Naxalism. Interactions are planned with beneficiaries, youths and women to understand the changes brought by welfare and empowerment schemes, organisers said.
A ceremonial ‘Jal Kalash’ carrying water collected from rivers, lakes and farm wells along the Gujarat sub-yatra routes will be taken from Vadnagar to Varanasi.
Water from Sharmishtha Lake in Vadnagar will also be added to the Kalash and a ‘Jal Abhishek’ will be performed at Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple before the urn is taken to Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
Organisers added that the campaign seeks to connect young people with public and social service, nation-building and strengthen a spirit of service and patriotism. PTI PJT PD NSK
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