Jalaun (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday cautioned people against what he called the “revadi culture” of offering freebies for garnering votes and said it is “very dangerous” for the development of the country.
The prime minister used ‘revadi’, a popular north Indian sweet often distributed during festivals, as a metaphor for freebies being promised by various parties to grab power and said the people, especially the youth, should guard against it.
Addressing a gathering here after inaugurating the 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore, Modi said this expressway will not only give speed to vehicles but will also accelerate the industrial progress of the entire Bundelkhand.
He said the expressway will cut travel time between Chitrakoot and Delhi by three-four hours but its benefit will be much more than that. He also hit out at previous Uttar Pradesh governments for the lack of connectivity.
The “double-engine” government is now ensuring a major transformation of the state with fast-improving connectivity and much better law and order, the prime minister said.
Modi asserted that no such work should be done that is not related to the present aspirations and better future of the country.
The thinking behind every decision and policy should be that it would accelerate the country’s development. All those things that harm and negatively impact the country’s development should be kept away, he said.
Modi said the country has got a very good opportunity for development and it should not let go of it.
“We have to ensure maximum development in this era and take the country to new heights and build a new India,” he said.
He said the new India also faces a challenge that, if overlooked, will be harmful to this generation. “Your present will be lost and your future pushed into darkness. It is important to be vigilant.”
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“In our country today, attempts are being made to bring a culture of garnering votes by distributing ‘revadis’. This ‘revadi culture’ is very dangerous for the development of the country. People of the country, especially the youth, need to guard against this culture,” Modi said.
He said those indulging in the “revadi culture” will never make new expressways, airports and defence corridors.
“The ‘revadi culture’ people think they will buy people by distributing free ‘revadis’. We have to jointly defeat this thinking of theirs. We have to remove the ‘revadi culture’ from the country’s politics,” Modi said without taking any names.
Modi’s remarks were targeted at parties that have been giving away freebies, especially before polls.
“Away from the ‘revadi culture’, we are focused on fulfilling people’s aspirations by building new roads and rail routes,” he said.
Crores of ‘pucca’ houses are being built for people, dams are being built and irrigation schemes are being implemented to ensure ease of living for the poor and farmers, the prime minister said.
He said “double-engine” governments of the BJP are not taking the shortcut of the “revadi culture” but working hard for the better future of their states.
Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s leadership, Uttar Pradesh is seeing major transformation with better law and order and fast-improving connectivity, Modi said. He asked people to recall the state of law and order and connectivity in Uttar Pradesh earlier.
BJP leaders use the term “double-engine” to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state.
Modi said the path of development on which the country is moving has two aspects at its core — “iraada aur maryada” (intent and decorum).
“We are not only creating new facilities for the present but also building the future of the country,” he said.
The prime minister said the expressway will link “every corner” of the Bundelkhand region with development, self-employment and new opportunities.
“Due to this expressway in this region, it will become very easy to set up agriculture-based industry and take farm produce to new markets,” he said.
“Many industries are going to be set up here. Cold storage facilities are going to be created,” he added.
Modi said people from different parts of the world visit many European countries to see forts.
“It’s a big tourism industry there,” he said.
Noting that Bundelkhand also has many forts, the prime minister urged Adityanath to develop a tourism circuit in the region to attract tourists from all over the world.
The Bundelkhand Expressway passes through seven districts of Uttar Pradesh. The time taken to travel from Chitrakoot to Delhi via the Bundelkhand Expressway will be six hours, officials said.
Adityanath welcomed Modi by offering him a local ‘Bundeli’ stole at the inauguration ceremony at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil here.
Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the expressway on February 29, 2020.
Reacting to Modi’s remarks, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his schemes for free education, health services and electricity supply are not freebies but efforts to lay the foundation for making India the number one country in the world.
“I will tell you who is distributing ‘revadis’ and giving freebies… Those waiving loans worth thousands of crores and getting contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees during foreign tours are giving freebies,” Kejriwal said without naming anyone.
PTI