Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a strong message on Saturday that he would again be the prime minister of the country in 2024.

Addressing a huge public rally at Dhana in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh this afternoon, Modi said, “today I laid the foundation stone of the Sant Ravidas Temple here and I am certain that Sant Ravidas will definitely bless me to come again and inaugurate the temple’s opening too when it gets completed in about an year or two.”

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The PM sat for a yagna and laid the foundation stone for the proposed Sant Ravidas Temple, Art Museum and Memorial spread across an area of 100 acre to be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore at Bartuma in the Sagar district.

From there, the PM proceeded to Dhana in Sagar where he laid the foundation stones for rail and road projects worth Rs 4,000 crore.

Addressing a public rally in Dhana, Modi said he was doubly elated today, as he is a member of the Lok Sabha from Kashi (Banaras), which is also the birthplace of Sant Ravidas.

Modi said India is in its ‘Amrit Kaal’ for the next 25 years and we must pledge to take the country forward and also learn lessons from history. Quoting Sant Ravidas on several occasions during his speech, the PM averred that casteism eats up humanity and accepting slavery and subjugation is a sin.

“Today the country is moving forward towards development and out of the slave mentality. Our government is committed to free India from poverty and hunger,” the PM asserted.

Referring to the Covid pandemic, the PM said it threatened the existence and survival of the poor, backwards, SC/ST, dalits and tribals in India the most. Modi said he pledged to not let that happen and not let any poor remain hungry. The PM said the entire world stood up and appreciated the works that the government did in India during the pandemic for the poor and backward classes.

Attacking the previous governments, the PM said those governments made projects for the poor only during the election season. “Our government has worked concertedly for the benefit of the poor and many projects are being implemented for dalits, poor, SC/ST and tribals,” he said.

The PM recounted the projects like Ayushman card scheme for the poor, education for tribals, mid-day meal for kids, sukanya yojana for girls, scholarships for SC/ST students, Mudra loan scheme for the SC/ST youth amongst others.

“Today people call the Ayushman card as the Modi card. Health related bills of up to Rs 5 lakh for the poor are paid by this son of yours,” the PM said.

“More than Rs 8000 crore financial assistance has been provided so far to SC/ST youth to make them self-dependent,” he added. He said the government is also ensuring housing for the SC/ST, poor, dalits, tribals and backward classes.

“The Congress ruled the country for years but did nothing for the uplift of the dalits and poor,” Modi charged.

“Today the dalits, poor and SC/ST are getting equal place in the society,” he claimed.

“Our government is preserving the rich legacy of the SC/ST, dalits and tribals and for the first time they are getting the honour and respect, which they always deserved,” Modi asserted.

This was Modi’s seventh visit to election-bound Madhya Pradesh in the past 11 months.

Sagar comes under the Bundelkhand region and has a huge number of SC/ST and dalit voters. In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had won 18 assembly seats in the region while the Congress got 17 out of the 35 seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC).

There are another 19 seats in the region, which have a major influence of dalit voters that account for about 16 per cent of the total voters.

The crucial state assembly elections in MP would take place in November this year.

Following that, the next Lok Sabha polls would take place in 2024.