Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday launched national mission ‘Make India No 1’ and called on all citizens to join it and contribute towards making it a success.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. ANI
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday launched national mission ‘Make India No 1’ at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, he called upon the 130 crore citizens of the country to join the mission and contribute towards making it a success.
“We have to make India the number 1 nation in the world once again. We have to make India great again. We are beginning a national mission called ‘Make India No.1’ today. Every citizen of this country, 130 cr0re people have to be connected to this mission,” Kejriwal said.
The chief minister said despite 75 years of Independence, India is lagging behind several countries which got Independence much later.
“It has been 75 years of independence. In these 75 years, we achieved a lot, India gained a lot but there’s anger, a question among people that several small nations who attained independence after us, surpassed us… Why did India lag behind? Every citizen is asking this,” he said.
He said that 27 crore children go to schools every day and India can become No 1 country in the world only if we can provide them free and quality education.
“We will have to open schools in every nook and corner of the country no matter how much money we spend. Once we provide good education, children will go on to become doctors, engineers etc. and make the country rich eventually,” he added.
He said the need of the hour is to ensure free healthcare services to every citizen.
“Every citizen of this country should have access to free healthcare services. Life of every Indian is very important to us. For this, it is important to open hospitals, mohalla clinics and dispensaries in every corner of the country,” he said.
Kejriwal said he will travel across the country as part of the mission to encourage people to join the initiative and achieve its objectives.
He said the mission is apolitical in nature.
“This is not the mission of a political party, it’s a national mission. I call upon the BJP and all other parties to come forward and join this initiative to make India the number one country in the world,” the chief minister said.
Kejriwal had on Tuesday urged the Centre to use the Delhi government’s expertise for improving school education and healthcare facilities across India to make it the number one country in the world.
He also appealed to the BJP-led Union government to not term free education and healthcare facilities “freebies”.
There has been political acrimony over the issue of freebies with the BJP accusing Kejriwal of using them as “bait” to lure voters.
After inaugurating the Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned people against what he called the “revdi culture” of offering freebies for garnering votes and said it is “very dangerous” for the development of the country.
Modi used ‘revdi’ as a metaphor for freebies being promised by some parties to woo voters and said the people, especially the youth, should guard against it.
“We are ready to work with the Centre to improve health services and education. I also request the Centre to stop calling them freebies,” Kejriwal said during an online press conference.
There is a need to open government schools on a large scale, improve them, regularise guest teachers and train teachers for children’s future. Then India can become a “rich country”, the chief minister said.
With inputs from agencies
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