Varanasi: On the second day of his two-day visit to Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday addressed a conference attended by chief ministers of BJP-ruled states.
PM Modi, it is learnt, sought to showcase a “unified BJP family” and the “best governance models” of BJP-ruled states to the nation, particularly to the seven states that go to elections next year — Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
The BJP is in power in six of these states.
The conference — and an itinerary planned for the chief ministers for Tuesday and Wednesday — also aimed to encompass a message of Hindu renaissance, BJP leaders told ThePrint.
The conference was attended by the chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It started Tuesday morning and went on until after 3 pm.
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Presentation on ‘good governance’
At the chief ministers’ conference, every CM was instructed to give a presentation on “good governance” and specify a project that had changed lives in their respective states.
Till late at night Monday, chief ministers were giving final touches to their respective presentations.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, one of the longest-serving of the 12 chief ministers in attendance, told ThePrint that the “agenda is to present the best work we do in our state, and the PM will give tips on how to expedite projects by clearing bottlenecks”.
Another BJP leader said they discussed the pandemic situation too, including how to handle the Omicron variant more aggressively.
“The prime minister wants to showcase the best governance works of BJP governments to the electorate of not just UP, but all seven poll-bound states. The CMs’ conference in Varanasi will make people aware of how the BJP model of development is transforming development of states,” said the BJP leader.
Sources in the BJP said the conference also involved a discussion on various central government projects and their implementation. The PM, the sources said, told the CMs to maintain the timeline of infrastructure projects and clear hurdles holding them up.
On the first day of his visit, Modi had inaugurated the first phase of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, and paid tribute in his speech to the resilience of Indian civilisation, speaking about the atrocities of Aurangzeb and Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud, and the countervailing valour of Chhatrapati Shivaji and King Suheldev.
His address also paid fulsome tribute to the modernising impulse of a rapidly developing India.
Post-conference plans
After the CM conference, Modi was scheduled to take part in the 98th anniversary celebrations of Sadguru Sadafaldeo Vihangam Yog Sansthan at the Swarved Mahamandir in Varanasi. He will address a gathering there, before returning to New Delhi.
The chief ministers, meanwhile, will visit the Khirkia Ghat in Varanasi and inspect the new Govardhan Puja murals there. After that, the CMs will visit the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Smriti Park, which has a statue of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder.
The sources said the party has arranged buses to ferry the chief ministers to different points of their itinerary.
In the evening, the chief ministers have been advised to visit Sarnath, where Gautama Buddha delivered the first sermon of his faith.
The Sarnath visit is also designed to send a positive message to the large Dalit Maurya community before the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, now weeks away.
The chief ministers have been asked to visit Ayodhya with their spouses for a darshan of Ram Lalla on 15 December. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will accompany the CMs on their Ayodhya visit.
The BJP in-charge of Varanasi and PM Modi’s point person there, Sunil Ojha, told ThePrint: “The message is Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat (one India, best India) under Modi, and this has to be communicated through these religious visits. We not only care for development, but also for a Hindu Renaissance.”
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
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