Hindustan Times ·
Politics
Uttar Pradesh set for PM Modi’s birthday celebrations, top leaders in Varanasi today
Varanasi to Vadnagar bike yatra to be launched as part of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan. Rajnath, Yogi, Naidu to attend celebrations in Varanasi
A host of dignitaries, including defence minister Rajnath Singh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu and several top BJP leaders, will participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday celebrations in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Thursday.
The celebrations will also mark the launch of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan with a series of service, public outreach and welfare programmes across the state to commemorate Modi’s 25 years in public service, first as Gujarat chief minister and then as prime minister.
The campaign aims to highlight what the party describes as the changes brought about through service, good governance and welfare during Modi’s tenure while promoting the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat-2047’ through public participation.
In Varanasi, Adityanath and Rajnath Singh will flag off the Seva Sankalp Bike Yatra from Rudraksh International Convention Centre to Gujarat’s Vadnagar (Modi’s birthplace), in the presence of Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Union minister Chirag Paswan and UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary, said Kashi region BJP president Ashok Chaurasia.
Simultaneously, a bike rally will be flagged off to Varanasi from Vadnagar as part of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan. Both bike rallies will culminate on October 7.
A public meeting will also be held on the occasion in Varanasi.
Before embarking on the journey, 51 Seva Yatris (bikers) will collect Ganga water from Lalita Ghat, and go to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple where they will perform Jalabhishek (ritual offering of water to the deity).
After the flag-off, the Seva Yatris will be greeted with showers of flower petals by Varanasi residents and BJP workers at approximately 10 locations along the route to the city’s border.
On the first day of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, the BJP will organise an ‘Ashirwad Ka Diya’ programme at all booths in the state, where party workers and members of the public will light lamps wishing Modi a healthy and long life.
Beneficiaries of central and state welfare schemes will also be encouraged to light lamps at their homes.
“A nationwide campaign will be launched on September 17, involving the lighting of 200 ‘Lamps of Blessing’ (Aashirwad ka Diya) at every polling booth to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday and the completion of 25 years of his public life,” said Uttar Pradesh finance and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna, who is the minister in charge of Varanasi, while addressing a coordination meeting between the BJP and the administration at the Circuit House in Varanasi.
The party will also organise blood donation camps, fruit distribution at hospitals, felicitation of artisans and distribution of toolkits on September 17, coinciding with Vishwakarma Jayanti.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha national president Hemang Joshi will be present in Vadnagar to welcome the yatris.
He said the journey would traverse 20 different routes, each named after India’s sacred rivers. Operating in both directions, the journey will cover 10 states, 193 districts, 773 tehsils, and 1,159 villages.
Seva Yatris traveling from Vadnagar to Varanasi will carry water from Gujarat’s sacred rivers to Kashi Vishwanath Dham to perform jalabhishek (ritual offering of water).
Conversely, those travelling from Varanasi to Vadnagar will carry water from Uttar Pradesh’s sacred rivers to perform Jalabhishek at the Shri Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple in Vadnagar, Joshi added.
Uttar Pradesh minister of state JPS Rathore stated that sacred water has been collected from major rivers, including the Ganga, Yamuna, Aami, Rapti, Narmada, Gomti, Betwa, Alaknanda, Kuano, Varuna, and Saryu, for this special journey.
Lok Sabha MP VD Sharma, the national in-charge of the Vadnagar-Varanasi bike rally, said, “The flag-off event in Vadnagar will be attended by Amit Shah, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, state unit BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Union minister Anupriya Patel among others.”
Sharma said the campaign’s aim is to connect youths with the work of service.
Meanwhile, special prayers were offered at the Kamna Purna Hanuman Mandir and Shantikeshwar Mahadev Mandir in Kamachha area of Varanasi on Wednesday, Modi’s birthday eve.
A blood donation event was held at the IMA Building in Lahurabir where a majority of participants belonged to the 18-22 age group.
In Lucknow, the BJP said preparations had been completed for its programmes. Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak and Lucknow BJP president Anand Dwivedi will distribute fruits among patients and attendants at Civil Hospital. Blood donation camps will also be held at different locations.
Other programmes planned during the month include ‘Mere Sapnon Ka Bharat-Chitra Seva’, ‘Namo Seva—Ankahi Kahaniyan’, ‘Aangan Milan Seva’, ‘Seva Ki Kahaniyan’ and ‘Seva Setu Abhiyan’.
