Congress’s full strength used for betterment of one family: PM Modi in Dwarka

Referring to the Sudarshan Setu project, the Prime Minister said he laid the foundation stone six years ago and has now inaugurated it.

Calling it an engineering marvel and not merely a facility, Modi said, “I (as the then Gujarat Chief Minister) used to repeatedly write to the then Congress government (about the necessity of the bridge).

But they never paid attention to it. The good fortune of building this bridge was in my destiny.” He said the bridge will be a great facility for devotees visiting Dwarka.

PM Narendra Modi after inaugurating the Sudarshan Setu. (ANI)

He then targeted the Congress. “Those who ruled the country for a long time, they did not have the will power and lacked the intention or sincerity to provide facilities to the common people. The entire strength of Congress gets employed for the betterment of one family. When they want the progress of one family, how will they remember building the country? All their efforts were in the direction of how to run the government for five years and how to conceal scams.”

“And that is why in the 10 years before 2014, they (Congress) could only make India 11th rank economy. When the economy was so small, it lacked the ability to fulfill the big dreams of a big country,” he said.

The Prime Minister also targeted Congress on the issue of corruption. “Whatever little budget was left for infrastructure, they used to loot it through scams. When the time came to improve telecom infrastructure, Congress did the 2G scam. When the opportunity arrived to modernise the sports infrastructure, the Congress did the Commonwealth (Games) scam. When the matter of strengthening the defence infrastructure arrived, the Congress did helicopter and submarine scam,” he alleged.

“The Congress can only betray every need of the country,” he said.

Modi said the government under his leadership in the past 10 years has stopped all scams that happened during the Congress regime.

“We made the country the 5th largest economic power in the past 10 years. As a result, you can see such navya-bhavya-divya (new, grand and divine) construction works,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the Sudarshan Setu.

“On the one hand, our divine pilgrimages are emerging in modern form and on the other hand, India’s new image is being made through mega projects,” he said.

Modi cited various projects in the country like the sea-bridge in Mumbai, bridge over Chenab in J&K and the vertical lift bridge in Chennai among others. “This modern connectivity is a road to prosperous and empowered country,” he said, adding that when connectivity improves, it impacts tourism in the country.

Talking about tourism development in Gujarat, the Prime Minister mentioned various tourist attractions like the 22 sanctuaries, four national parks, heritage spots like Ahmedabad, Rani ki Vav, Champaner, Dholavira, Lothal and blue flag beach of Shivrajpur, Asiatic lions. He said that out of more than 85 lakh tourists who came to India in 2022, every fifth visited Gujarat. This increasing number of tourists, he said, brings new opportunities of employment and self-employment.

In the morning, the Prime Minister who stayed overnight in Jamnagar offered prayers at Dwarkadhish Temple in Dwarka. He also went scuba diving off the Panchkui beach coast and performed prayers as he witnessed the ancient Dwarka Nagari of Lord Krishna, which is submerged in the waters.

He sat cross-legged on the sea bed, folded his hands in prayer while being helped by Navy divers and waved peacock feathers before offering them to Lord Krishna. “More than courage, it was faith,” he said after coming out of the waters.

In his address in Dwarka, the Prime Minister said, “I spent those moments which will stay with me forever. I went into the deep sea and saw ancient Dwarika ji. Archeologists have written a lot about submerged Dwarika…While I was seeing Dwarikaji inside the sea, I was experiencing the same grandeur and divinity. I also offered a peacock feather there while remembering Lord Krishna.”