After 'pran pratishtha,' time to take 'rashtra pratishtha' to new heights: PM Modi

Launching a slew of projects in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday promised development that would take the national prestige to new heights.

"In Ayodhya, I said 'pran pratishtha' has been completed, now it is time to take 'rashtra pratishtha' to new heights," he said addressing a gathering in Bulandshahr, after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of development projects worth over Rs 19,100 crore.

The Prime Minister said that for decades after Independence, development was kept confined to a few regions and a big part of the country was deprived. He added that Uttar Pradesh was ignored for decades as those who ran the governments behaved like rulers and kept the people deprived.

"Such people saw the path of dividing society as an easy route to attain power," Modi said, asserting that it was the BJP's double-engine government that gave pace to development in Uttar Pradesh.

Building a developed India is not possible without the fast-paced development of Uttar Pradesh, he added.

Talking about 'Modi ki guarantee' which is aimed at achieving saturation of welfare schemes, the prime minister said, "What our government says, it does. Our efforts are directed at ensuring that the benefits of government schemes reach all beneficiaries. Modi is giving a guarantee of saturation, guarantee of a cent per cent (saturation of schemes)."

He said when welfare reaches all beneficiaries, there is no scope left for discrimination and corruption. "This is true secularism, this is true social justice," Modi added.

"For a long time after Independence, someone gave a slogan of 'Garibi Hatao', someone kept lying about social justice but the poor people of the country saw that only a few families got rich and their politics flourished," he said, in an apparent swipe at the Congress.

The prime minister also said that farmers' interests were his government's top priority and it was creating a 'suraksha kavach (protective shield)' around their families.

Modi also said that he saw a few channels that claimed he would sound the poll bugle with this programme.

"I saw in the media that Modi will sound the election bugle in Bulandshahr. Modi sounds the bugle of development, Modi sounds the bugle for the welfare of the last person in the queue. Modi neither needed to sound the poll bugle earlier nor does he need it now and will not need it in the future. People keep doing it for him," he said.