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This is an archive article published on April 28, 2017

BJP in favour of Bharat-rajya, not Ram-rajya, says Devendra Fadnavis

Party to launch Samvad Yatra to reach out to 25 lakh farmers

BJP, Devendra Fadnavis, Devendra Fadnavis on BJP, BJP ideology, Maharshtra CM, sangharsh yatra, indian express news Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis (File Photo)

TO counter the ‘sangharsh yatra’ recently undertaken by the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra, the BJP Thursday announced its intention to embark upon a ‘samvad yatra’ to take the government’s welfare plans to the masses. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Thursday raised the pitch for a “Bharat-rajya” rather than a “Ram-rajya” in Maharashtra.

“Their (Opposition’s) sangharsh yatra drew no response from the farmers because the farming community knows what they did during their regime… Our samvad yatra will take the welfare policies right up to the last farmer,” said the CM, ridiculing the Opposition’s “sangharsh yatra” that demanded, among other things, loan waiver for farmers. The CM said the “samvad yatra” was being undertaken as part of the year-long Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya birth anniversary celebrations.

Addressing BJP ministers, MLAs, mayors, leaders and workers at the party’s two-day executive committee held in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Fadnavis asked party MPs, MLAs, corporators to stay away from their homes for 15 days and reach out to farmers. “We have to reach out to about 25 lakh farmers in the state to know the exact status of the government’s welfare measures and how much the farming community is benefiting from them,” he said.

The CM said the farmers were waiting for a “samvad” (dialogue) with BJP leaders and workers. “Therefore, as part of the Deendayal Upadhyaya birth anniversary celebrations, we have decided to hold dialogues with farmers in every nook and corner of Maharashtra,” he said. Emphasising that BJP identified itself more with “Bharat-rajya” rather than “Ram-rajya”, Fadnavis said “janata was the Ram” and BJP was in the role of a “trustee, means it has to behave like Bharat”. He said the concept of “Ram-rajya” was an ideal one, but “Ramcharitmanas mentions how Bharat-rajya set a unique example in governance”. “Bharat ruled for 14 years, not as the king but as trustee. He never behaved like a king. Similarly, we are not owners but…are the sevaks of people,” he said.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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