New Delhi: The central government is working for the welfare of all citizens and its schemes such as healthcare benefits and gas connections reach everybody without any religious discrimination, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday.
He was addressing the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) through a video conference. The PM also released a postal stamp during the event.
“The plans that the country is making today are reaching every section without discrimination of religion. Bank accounts of over 40 crore poor have been opened without discrimination. Without discrimination, more than 2 crore poor were given pucca houses,” Modi said.
“Without any discrimination, eight crore women got gas connections. Under Ayushman Bharat, without any discrimination, 50 crore people got health benefits of Rs 5 lakh,” he added. “Today, the country is moving on the path where no one is left behind because of religion, everyone gets equal opportunities to move forward and fulfill their dreams.”
Modi specifically mentioned the “education and empowerment of Muslim daughters” in his address, and said the school dropout rate among Muslim girls has dropped from 70 per cent to 30 per cent in the last 70 years.
“We are making all efforts to ensure it is reduced further,” he said, adding that while millions of “Muslim daughters” had to drop out of schools due to a lack of toilets, the situation is changing now.
The PM stressed on the fact that his government works on the principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”. He said this resolve is reflected in the intentions and policies of the country.
He added that while there are ideological differences in society, “which is but natural”, “when it comes to achieving national goals, every difference should be kept aside”.
“When all your young people will move forward with this thinking, then there is no such destination that we cannot achieve and work towards an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.
‘AMU has strengthened India’s ties with Muslim world’
PM Modi also said AMU, which he referred to as ‘Mini India’, has strengthened India’s cultural relations with the Islamic world.
“I find many people saying that the AMU campus is like a city in itself. Many departments, dozens of hostels, thousands of teacher-students, there is a mini India,” he said. “If a student can imbibe her/his education in Urdu, so can they in Hindi. On one side one can get knowledge about Arabic, on the other Sanskrit too. On one side you can learn the teachings of the Quran, while on the other, AMU teaches the teachings of Gita and other scriptures too. If Arabic is taught, Sanskrit is also taught.”
Modi urged the AMU community as well as all Indians to work together for the country. “In the last century, a lot of time has been wasted in the name of differences. Now is not the time to lose, everyone has to create a new India, self-reliant India with one goal,” he added.
The PM also said while politics is important, nothing was above the country. “We have to remember that while politics is an important part of society there are other issues that are much bigger and greater besides politics,” he said. “The society of a country is much larger than politics and power.”
Also read: Modi is reaching out. AMU has a chance to take Muslims away from path of confrontation
As much as ThePrint tries to project itself as a fair and honest media the biases become evident in the choice of headlines. This was an address by the PM to a century old institution. And all that the author is able to see is ‘Muslim’ in AMU. See the words in headline – ‘…. in a reach out to Muslims’. For heaven’s sake The PM was addressing in response to their invitation to him and he was not voluntarily giving out a speech