PM WANTS AZADI FROM GARIBI, BHRASHTACHAR & BEROJGARI
During a special Monsoon session and to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic Quit India Movement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed members of the Lok Sabha. In his 20-min speech, Modi recalled the extraordinary sacrifice of the freedom fighters in making successful the Quit India Movement of 1942, which started from Mumbai against the British Colonial rule in India. Modi called upon all the political parties to keep certain basic social issues above politics and show the similar spirit of 1942 to win over them.
Modi’s started speaking soon after the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan finished her emotional speech. Mahajan talked about many known and unknown leaders of the freedom struggle and highlighted their contribution. Modi began by saluting the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and said that the challenge before the nation then was to uproot the British rule, but 75 years after that “we now have the challenge of building a new India”. The 1942 agitation inspires us to do new things, Modi said while remarking there was also a need today to talk about one’s responsibilities rather than only enjoying power and perks.
Exhorting the spirit of historic political unity in ushering in the GST regime, the PM said we need to rise above politics to achieve six goals. He listed them as the eradication of corruption, ending poverty, addressing unemployment of the youth, uprooting malnutrition, empowering women and removing illiteracy. “We will endeavour to achieve these goals and we resolve to do it at any cost,” Modi averred amidst thumping of benches by BJP members in the House.
He said unanimity was required on all these issues and they could not be fully addressed by any government alone and needed all round support. “The slogan given by Gandhiji of ‘do or die’ is the need of the hour, albeit in a different sense and purpose,” the PM said. In his 20-min long speech Modi took the names of Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Chaphekar brothers, Bhagat Singh and others, but avoided mentioning Jawaharlal Nehru.