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Schools told to light diyas for Modi’s birthday, BJP governments organise events
The Delhi government has asked schools to conduct activities such as competitions for making reels, speeches and drawings.
At least 75 government schools in Delhi have been directed to light diyas, or earthen lamps, on their premises on Thursday to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, The Wire reported.
The programme is among several events planned in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states to mark Modi’s birthday on Thursday.
The earthen lamps will be lit at schools designated under the Chief Minister Schools of High Relevance and Innovation scheme, the news outlet reported. The schools were provided the lamps and other material by the administration. The school authorities have been told to record videos of the lamps being lit and upload them on a Google Drive.
Teachers have been asked to visit the homes of students who topped the Class 10 exam with earthen lamps and to give them blessings, The Wire reported.
Modi turns 76 on Thursday.
The Delhi government has mandated activities that the schools need to conduct for a month till October 17. The activities include competitions for speeches, drawing and making reels, or short vertical videos for social media.
The BJP governments in several states describe the month-long celebrations as a “Seva Sankalp Abhiyan”, or a resolution for public service. Similar events have been held in past years.
It was unclear whether only government schools under the CM SHRI scheme will carry out the activities or all government schools in Delhi.
Saurav Das, the co-convener of the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, alleged that Anganwadi workers in Madhya Pradesh had been directed to light diyas to celebrate Modi’s birthday, “record videos praising him” and government schemes.
They have been warned of action if they do not comply with the directive, Das alleged on social media.
“If BJP governments had spent this energy addressing the actual problems Anganwadi workers face – poor pay (Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000), crushing workloads, vacancies, no social security or healthcare, and centres functioning out of crumbling buildings – then perhaps these women wouldn’t need to be ‘ordered’ to praise anyone,” Das said.
If the government had “genuinely transformed their lives, their gratitude will come naturally,” Das said.
He added that governments were “focussed on manufacturing gratitude” for Modi through public relations activities.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, more than 25 lakh earthen lamps will be lit to mark Modi’s birthday, PTI reported. About 30,000 persons will participate in the event, the district collector said.
The Delhi government will also organise the lighting of 1.2 lakh lamps at Kartavya Path in the national capital during an “Aashirwad Ka Diya”, or lamp of blessings, event. A yagya, a Hindu ritual, was performed by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at the Khatu Shyam Dham in Delhi’s Alipur area on the occasion of the prime minister’s birthday.
In Haryana’s Rohtak, 10,000 lamps will be lit at the state-run Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, The Times of India reported. This comes even as patients complained about delays of up to 10 days to get ultrasound tests done at the facility, the newspaper reported.
The Times of India on Wednesday quoted the director of the institute as saying that it does not have enough staff to operate the ultrasound machines.
More than 88 lakh lamps will be lit at 18,500 locations across Gujarat on Thursday as part of the event Ashirwad No Divdo, or lamp of blessings, to mark Modi's birthday, The Times of India reported. The earthen lamps will be lit in the evening to coincide with the temple aartis, a Hindu ritual of worship.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will attend an event at Ahmedabad’s Kankaria lake where 1.2 lakh lamps will be lit.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.