‘Viksit Bharat’ pious idea to lift 70 cr Indians out of poverty, says Shah

The Gandhinagar MP said the campaign involves inviting people to take an oath and resolve to make India a developed country by 2047, when the country will celebrate the centenary of Independence.

“The resolve of a developed India that we made just now is not merely a formality of repeating a few words but a pious idea to bring more than 70 crore poor Indians at par with others. We have to give it an impetus by our individual resolves,” Shah said.

He added that the country was starkly divided between haves and have-nots before the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 and Modi was elected PM for the first time.

“We should think over how there used to be two Indias before 2014. (In one of them), there were 70 crore people who didn’t have a cooking gas connection, toilet, drinking water, electricity or in some cases, their own houses. They would struggle for ration, access to healthcare facilities, etc. Thus, there was a separate India for these 70 crore people and another one for the rest,” Shah said.
“In 2014, Narendrabhai (Modi) resolved that there shall be a bank account for every family, that every household will have a gas cylinder, a toilet, piped water connection, Rs 5-lakh health insurance cover provided by the government and that every individual will get 5 kg ration free of cost,” he added.

Shah asked the audience to think over how much progress countries like Russia, China, Japan and Germany, which got rid of various regimes around the time India became Independent by overthrowing the British colonial rule, have made and where India stands after 75 years of Independence.

“This (VBSY) is an event to resolve that India will be the leader in every sector and a developed country when we celebrate the centenary of our Independence,” he added.

Shah said that the vision of a developed India has two parts. “One of them is that India shall be safe, prosperous, will have the best education system in the world, will be the manufacturing hub of the world, its roads, Railways and infrastructure will be better than the rest of the world.”

“The other envisions that every citizen of India will have a house, drinking water, gas, toilet, Rs 5-lakh worth of health insurance and every individual will get 5 kg of ration every month. India will be developed only if this happens. No country can become developed by ignoring 70 crore of its residents,” Shah said, adding all these things will be provided to those eligible over the next five years.

Shah said that VBSY is Modi’s campaign to make this resolve a popular campaign and that it will cover every village panchayat of the country by January 26, next year.
But he underlined that without support of all citizens, India will not be able to become a developed nation.

“No government can make India developed and the leader in every sector. Neither any state government or the Central government. No one else but 130 crore Indians can make India a developed and atmanirbhar country. This is the reason, like we have assembled today here in Chanduvav, this yatra will go to every village,” he said.