PM Narendra Modi flags an 8-foot idea for nationalism

WATCH VIDEO: PM Modi Proposes Tiranga Yatras To Instill Patriotism Among Indians

The MPs and MLAs will lead the Tiranga Yatra in their constituencies for a week, between August 15 and 22, and in the areas where the party does not have an MP or MLA, BJP office bearers will lead it, said sources. A committee of ministers led by M Venkaiah Naidu has made the blueprint for the celebrations and Naidu will finalise the programme in a meeting with BJP president Amit Shah.

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The yatra plan comes a day after the government was attacked in Parliament over the unrest in Kashmir. Opposition parties had on Monday slammed the Centre for the “excessive use of force” in Kashmir, saying that bullets cannot bring a solution to the current unrest.

The BJP has taken out Tiranga Yatras in the past, mainly to send out a political message. In 1991, then party chief Murli Manohar Joshi had carried out a yatra from Kanyakumari and ended it with the unfurling of the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Modi, who was known for his organisational skills in the party, had planned and prepared that yatra. In 2011, the party’s youth wing led by Anurag Thakur had launched a similar yatra but was not allowed to enter J&K.

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At the meeting, the Prime Minister also called for a major celebration to mark 70 years of Independence. Among other plans is a programme to “search for unsung heroes” of the freedom struggle and “bring them into public memory”. The party has been asked to identify historical figures, local war heroes, and events that have “inspired the locals” since 1857 and post Independence, but have not found a place in history books. “There is lot of yearning for historical justice so that a generation that is aware of our history can be created,”said a Union Minister.

The PM also wants the party to highlight the NDA government’s “programmes for the poor” on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyay on September 25.

“The Prime Minister reminded us that this government has launched several programmes for the poor in the last two years. In memory of Deendayalji’s Antyodaya message, we will name this programme Garib Kalyan Yojana. We will highlight 70 such programmes as it is the 70th anniversary of Independence,” said a party source.

The PM also congratulated the party for organising ‘Vikas Parv’, a series of over 200 events, during which the government and party office bearers publicised the government’s “successes” in its two years in power. “Mood is good. Keep it up. But observe caution,” the Prime Minister is said to have told the party leaders.