Page 74 - SocialHarmony

78 Social Harmony

believe in lop-sided development of a handful of places in
Gujarat. I want development to reach each village and each
person in Gujarat. Today, Vibrant Gujarat is known all over the
world, I want each village of Gujarat to be vibrant. I have
absolute faith in the dedicated efforts of the village-people under
the leadership of their sarpanches. It pains me to see the
conditions of some of our villages. I remember that when I
announced the Jyoti Gram Yojna, Shri Amarsingh Chaudhry,
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly came to see me in private.
He advised me not to go ahead with the Yojna as he felt that it is
simply not possible to supply 24-hour electricity to villages. He
told me that as I was inexperienced in governance, I was being
misguided, but he was giving friendly counsel not to go ahead
with this tough task. I joked that precisely because the task is
tough, the people have chosen me to carry it out and not you! It
was really a tough task, but I was genuinely concerned for the
villages – if cities can get 24-hour electricity, then why not
villages? Today, no place in India gets 24-hour electricity –
whether it is Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata or Delhi.
Only Gujarat supplies 24-hour three-phase electricity to every
village.

This is a huge revolution that has taken place in Gujarat,
mainly due to the Jyoti Gram Scheme, which has been highly
appreciated. Villages in Gujarat have started getting 24-hour
electricity, and the shocks have been felt in Delhi. The “Sultans”
of Delhi were shocked by our achievement and conspired to
“teach a lesson” to “that Modi”. You will be stunned to know
that the Delhi Government has stealthily snatched away 200
MV of our electricity. Why punish Gujarat by taking away
electricity worth ` 600 crores? If they have a problem with
Narendra Modi, they should attack him and not the farmers of
Gujarat. I warn those who are sitting in Delhi – you are inviting
trouble for yourself if you do not stop harassing the farmers of
my state.

The Village as a Place of Pilgrimage
Our single-minded focus is on the development of Gujarat.

The Gujarat Government has introduced several schemes