Modi@8: No social media in 90s, But Modi Ji Came Up with Innovative Campaigns
The Narendra Modi government recently completed eight years in power and to mark the same, the Prime Minister was in Shimla to address the Garib Kalyan Sammelan where he virtually released the 11th instalment of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, the cash transfer scheme for farmers. Around Rs 21,000 crore was paid out to 100 million farmers at the event.
In his tenure of eight years, PM Modi has efficiently shouldered the responsibility of making the world understand that India is a superpower. Due to his sincere efforts, India has emerged as the sixth largest economy in the world. In 2015, India was at the 142nd position in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, while today it is at the 63rd position.
PM Modi has been the architect of laying a foundation for a New India and I am highly satisfied with the direction in which our country is advancing forward. He is the Pradhan Sewak of 130 crore people and an inspiration to many, including me.
The massive change that the country has seen since 2014 happened due to his able leadership and pure hard work. During his first tenure, PM Modi launched some empowering schemes for the lower strata of the society. The first scheme to be launched was the Jan Dhan Yojana which helped anybody open a bank account with zero balance.
It had been a dream for millions of people in the country to have their own bank accounts which PM Modi helped fulfil. Initially, people mockingly asked how opening a bank account would help, but it was PM Modi’s vision and determination that resulted in the opening of more than 45 crore bank accounts. Now, Direct Benefit Transfer from various schemes reaches the beneficiaries directly.
Another scheme which helped the women of our country was the Ujjwala Yojana under which more than 9 crore households could eat food cooked using an LPG cylinder. The Ayushman Bharat scheme and Swachh Bharat Mission have also been game-changers. All the schemes massively benefited the people of Himachal Pradesh.
The world has been in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020 and PM Modi handled the situation deftly. The situation is gradually improving and the vision that the PM has of making India Atmanirbhar or self-reliant came into full force when within few months of the onset of the pandemic, India launched not one but two vaccines to fight the pandemic and protect the citizens of the country.
Himachal Pradesh has always been close to PM Modi’s heart. He wore a Himachali topi with a maroon band. Maroon symbolises the descendants of lower Sirmour near Shimla. It’s a huge honour for every Himachali to be represented globally like this.
Himachal Pradesh is soon going to have its own AIIMS in Bilaspur which will be inaugurated by PM Modi in last week of June. The medical institute will have 125 bed facility in the initial phase. The entire institute should be ready and fully operational by September this year. Having a premiere medical institute like AIIMS on our land will make the life of every Himachali easy who earlier had to go to Chandigarh or Delhi for further treatment.
Himachal Pradesh has seen immense development ever since PM Modi came into power. The proposed investment comes to about Rs 750 crore and it will also generate employment opportunities.
My association with PM Modi goes back to the mid-1990s when he came to the state as the in-charge of party affairs.
I still remember his youthfulness. He was and still is bright, innovative, dedicated and determined. Since we were in the Opposition at that time, he would share ideas on how we could take our vision forward. It was PM Modi’s brilliant and sharp strategies and ideas that helped us form a government in the state for the first time in 1998.
Narendra Modi ji would encourage us to adopt new ways to expand the horizon of protests and campaigns. He would tell us new tricks of protest by ringing bells in temples, or beating thalis.
His idea was to spread our message to maximum people in new ways. At that time, there was no social media but Modi ji‘s innovative ideas worked like social media because that helped us carry our message to masses.
In 1998, I was a member of the state election committee but could not make the cut for the Assembly ticket from Shimla. As a disciplined party worker, I prepared the party’s manifesto as per the guidance of senior leaders. We won the elections. With the blessings of senior leadership, including Narendra Modi ji who had moved to the Centre for bigger responsibilities, a common karyakarta or a worker like me was made the party’s state president and then a Rajya Sabha member.
As an RS member, I was in Ahmedabad as a part of a parliamentary committee. I dialled the CM’s residence from my hotel to talk to Modi ji. I was apprehensive whether he would remember me or talk to me. Modi ji was on tour at that time. His staff took my details and the next morning Modi ji called me up asking about my tours.
Unfortunately, I could not meet him as he was not in the state capital but I was glad that he remembered and I felt the same warmth which I felt in the mid-90s when he was handling the party’s affairs in Himachal and then today.
During the 2004 parliamentary elections, as Gujarat CM, Modi had to address two rallies in Shimla’s Theog and Solan’s Dharampur. As the state party president, I received him at Shimla’s Kalyani helipad and accompanied him to Theog. After the rally, he asked me whether I would be accompanying him to Dharampur. I said I could not accompany Arun Jaitley ji the day before as the pilot did not allow citing technical issues. He immediately asked the pilot and ensured I accompanied him to Dharampur. This was his affection.
In his 2017 visit to Himachal to attend the swearing-in ceremony of CM Jairam Thakur, he made a stopover at the local Indian Coffee House and reminisced how he would sit here along with party men and media-persons, sip coffee and discuss politics.
We feel so proud and grateful that PM Modi chose Himachal Pradesh to mark the eight anniversary of his government. When I was welcoming him, I asked if he would like to go to Jakhu Temple to seek the blessings of Lord Hanuman. PM Modi immediately asked me about Deepak Sharma, a municipal councillor with whom his association goes back to 1997 when he was party affairs in-charge for Himachal and Deepak Sharma was the then Shimla mandal president.
Both of them used to climb the steep slope which was about a kilometre-long stretch to reach Jakhu Temple instead of taking the road. PM Modi also frequented Deepak Sharma’s house back then.
PM Modi’s visit to Himachal has rejuvenated the spirit of the state government as well as each and every party worker. We are now focused and determined to share our report card with the people of Himachal and earn their trust again later this year in the Assembly polls.
[The Blog was first published in News18 and is written by Shri Suresh Bhardwaj, Himachal Pradesh Minister]
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