People should encourage a “spirit” for development, similar to the “freedom fever” that was prevalent during the Independence struggle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
"If the 140 crore countrymen take a resolve to make the nation developed, then India will surely become 'Viksit' by 2047," Modi said, addressing a Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra event in Varanasi.
The prime minister is on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency where he will launch and inaugurate 37 projects worth more than Rs 19,000 crore.
"In our country, many government schemes have been made. Based on the experience of all of them, I felt that the most important thing to pay attention to is that those schemes should reach people at the right time without any problems,” he said.
Modi mocked the Congress's slogan of 'garibi hatao' (remove poverty) and said the poor feel empowered and confident when they get a pucca house and gas cylinders for their homes.
The prime minister termed the Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra as an “examination” and a feedback mechanism to learn directly from people if welfare schemes meant for them is reaching them.
"It is my examination... whether whatever I had said and whatever I am doing, I want to hear from you and from the entire country whether it has happened in the right proportion. Whether it has been done for the person for whom it was intended to, and whether the work which was to be done, has happened or not,” Modi said.
Earlier, Modi held a roadshow in Varanasi.
The prime minister also launched Kashi Tamil Sangamam 2.0 from Namo Ghat and flaged off the new train from Kanyakumari to Varanasi.