The inspiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’ came from a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which he penned in his diary in 1980’s, a diary entry from the Modi Archive revealed.
The Modi archive, a platform that tracks the prime minister’s life, his early days and journey, features his handwritten notes and his mind on a range of issues. The entries by a young Modi show that Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals had left an impact on his life, since he was young. The same is also reflected in the Centre’s welfare schemes.
The country celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s 153rd birth anniversary on Sunday.
“I do not believe in the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. It is to sacrifice the good of forty-nine per cent to achieve the supposed good of fifty-one per cent. It is a heartless doctrine and has done harm to humanity. “The only real, dignified human doctrine is the greatest good of all,” wrote young Modi in a note.
The Modi Archive’s twitter handle shared moments when he visited Gandhi’s birthplace, Porbandar, and sought his blessings, just days before he was sworn in as Gujarat’s Chief Minister in 2001.
“At Porbandar, the place where #MahatmaGandhi was born, Modi looks at a portrait of the Mahatma. “After a few days, Modi was sworn in as Gujarat’s Chief Minister and has been in public office for 21 years since,” said the tweet by Modi Archive.
PM Modi replied to the tweet by sharing the lessons of water conservation which his hometown teaches and provided the link for the same.
Modi’s ability to turn schemes into mass movements like the Swach Bharat Abhiyan also finds its roots in Gandhi who turned the fight with Britishers into a mass movement through “Jan Bhagidari’.
Speaking at a media conclave in 2007, Modi, who was the then Chief Minister of Gujarat said, “As far as the development of concerned, it is my opinion that the way every citizen came together during the time of independence, numerous people sacrificed and tried to make the country free, and hundreds of people were spending captured in the jails of Andaman and Nicobar, but the biggest contribution of Mahatma Gandhi was that he converted freedom into a mass movement.”
Earlier on Sunday PM Modi, along with Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri at the parliament house.
He, along with Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar also attended a prayer meet organised at Gandhi Smriti on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
Paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 153rd birth anniversary, PM Modi tweeted, “This Gandhi Jayanti is, even more, special because India marks Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. I also encourage you to buy Khadi and handicrafts as a tribute to Gandhi Ji.”