Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the country’s people to spend 5 per cent of their travel expenditure on the purchase of local goods produced by the residents of the areas they visit.
Addressing a gathering after offering prayers at Kedarnath and Badrinath temples in Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, Modi praised local products and the efforts of local self-help groups.
“Today, I have come to a border village protecting my country. From this village on the China border, I appeal to travellers across the country to pledge to spend at least 5 per cent of their travel expenses on the purchase of local products. Like I speak of ‘Vocal for Local’, I appeal for this other pledge… I can’t order, but I can request,” he said.
“It will give a big push to local products and give you immense satisfaction, too,” he said.
Referring to the rejuvenation of the centres of faith, he said that this would help ease living in the hilly areas and provide employment opportunities to the youth there.
“Rails, roads and ropeways bring with them jobs and make life easier and more empowering. These facilities enhance tourism and facilitate transportation in hilly areas.
Earlier, he laid the foundation stone for development works worth over Rs 3400 crore, including ropeway projects in Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib.
Modi blamed previous governments and their “slave mentality” for “neglecting our faith centres”. “Such people never tire of praising the centres of faith in other countries”, he said, but instead “look down” at the faith centres in their own country.
He said that the India of the 21st century would rest on two central pillars: “First, pride in our heritage and second, every effort for development. Today Uttarakhand is strengthening both these pillars.
“In the 75th year of independence, I appealed to the Red Fort to free ourselves from the mentality of slavery… This is because the slave mentality has gripped us so that some people get all the development work. Crime Every action is weighed on the scales of slavery. So for a long time, there was an aversion to developing our faith centres.
Today, the entire country is proud of our spiritual centres, and the land of Uttarakhand is a witness to this change,” he said.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami thanked the Prime Minister for his interest and guidance in Uttarakhand.
Dhami recalled visiting Ayodhya in 1999 and said he was “sad” to see Lord Rama “in a tent”. “When I returned, I felt sad that we Ram Lalla Hum Manege, the temple would be built the same, but for a long time, no temple was built. Today a grand Ram temple is being constructed under his (Modi’s) leadership. I went to Kashi last year and saw that lakhs of devotees could have darshan of Lord Vishwanath.
