Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Gujarat on Thursday and flag off the BJP’s ‘Vadnagar to Varanasi Seva Sankalp Bike Yatra’ from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthplace, Vadnagar, as part of the party’s nationwide Seva Sankalp Abhiyan.
Shah is scheduled to flag off the yatra at 9:30 a.m. in Vadnagar. The campaign is being organised to mark Prime Minister Modi’s birthday on September 17 and his completion of 25 years in public life.
A parallel bike yatra from Varanasi to Vadnagar will also begin at 9:30 a.m. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu are among the leaders expected to participate in the launch in Varanasi.
According to the BJP, the two yatras will cover nearly 40,000 km, passing through 193 districts and around 1,159 villages across 10 states. Around 1,000 young participants are expected to take part, with 500 travelling from Vadnagar to Varanasi and another 500 making the return journey.
The yatras are scheduled to conclude on October 7, coinciding with the completion of 25 years of Modi’s public life.
Shah’s Vadnagar programme will begin at 8:15 a.m. with a Maha Aarti at Sharmishtha Lake, followed by a padayatra and preparations for the bike yatra’s launch. A cleanliness campaign will also be launched at the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, State BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi and other leaders are expected to attend the programmes.
The BJP’s Gujarat unit said the campaign would focus on activities including tree plantation, cleanliness drives, Nasha Mukt Bharat, TB Mukt Bharat and water conservation. Participants will also interact with beneficiaries of government schemes, youth and women beneficiaries, besides felicitating sanitation workers.
Four preparatory sub-yatras have already started from different parts of Gujarat. These began on September 13 from Somnath, Shamlaji, Pavagadh and Unai Mataji and are proceeding towards Vadnagar.
As part of the campaign, water collected from rivers, lakes, wells and other water bodies along the routes will be carried to Vadnagar in a ‘Jal Kalash Rath’. Water from Sharmishtha Lake will be added to the collection before a Jalabhishek at the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple. The Jal Kalash will then proceed towards Varanasi, where additional water will be collected en route for a Jalabhishek at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The BJP said water from rivers including the Narmada, Sabarmati, Mahi, Gomti, Vishwamitri, Tapi, Banas, Shetrunji, Aji and Pamba will form part of the collection.
After completing his Vadnagar engagements, Shah will travel to Ahmedabad. He is scheduled to offer prayers at the Shri Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur at 5:15 p.m., followed by the ‘Aashirwad No Deewo’ programme at Kankaria Lake at 5:45 p.m.
At 7 p.m., Shah is scheduled to attend the Ganesh Mahotsav organised by the Sardar Patel Seva Dal at Sardar Patel Chowk in Vastrapur.
The BJP’s nationwide Seva Sankalp Abhiyan is being held alongside various programmes across the country to commemorate Prime Minister Modi’s birthday and his 25 years in public life.
