New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the celebrations marking the 151st birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on Saturday, October 31, where he is scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for development projects worth over Rs 400 crore.
The Prime Minister will also participate in the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations, which will feature a special parade involving around 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel and nearly 4,700 artists. This year's event will highlight the country's achievement in eliminating armed Naxalism in 2026 through a series of performances.
Modi, who began his two-day visit to Gujarat on Friday, will start the second day by offering floral tributes at the Statue of Unity. He will subsequently inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for development projects before visiting the Rain Forest and Vaman Vriksha Vatika in Ekta Nagar. The main Rashtriya Ekta Diwas ceremony will be held in the evening.
A major highlight of this year's parade will be performances commemorating the end of armed Naxalism. Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) contingents that were at the forefront of the fight against armed Naxalism will participate. Short films showcasing their achievements will be displayed on LED screens as the contingents pass before the Prime Minister.
The National School of Drama will present a special performance featuring around 2,000 artists from 126 districts that had experienced armed Naxalism. The presentation will depict the challenges faced by people in these regions when violence threatened their lives and property. Around 5,000 residents from the districts have also been invited to attend the celebrations and share their experiences.
The cultural programmes will revolve around the theme of 'Vande Mataram', marking the 150th year of the national song. Fifteen tableaux, including a people's tableau being showcased at Ekta Nagar for the first time, will form part of the event.
Another cultural presentation will bring together around 5,000 artists representing communities from different states who have settled in Gujarat over generations. Featuring nearly 50 cultural elements, the performance will showcase the country's diversity and the spirit of 'Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat'.
The parade will also feature police and paramilitary contingents, cultural troupes and musical bands, followed by an address by the Prime Minister. A nationwide bike rally against drug abuse is also planned.
Earlier on Friday, Modi dedicated and laid the foundation stones for development projects worth over Rs 14,000 crore in Banaskantha district.
On the occasion of the national-level celebration of PM Kisan Utsav Diwas, he released the 24th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), transferring financial assistance directly to farmers' bank accounts across the country.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Bharat Bovine Breeding and Research Centre (BBBRC), a new potato expansion facility and the UHT-ASRS facility of Banas Dairy through virtual means. He performed the ground-breaking ceremony for two compressed biogas plants of Banas Dairy at Tharad and Radhanpur.
Several other projects covering the metro, anganwadi, agriculture and animal husbandry sectors were also inaugurated or launched. Modi additionally dedicated two new railway services to Gujarat.
Addressing the event, the Prime Minister described farmers as among the strongest pillars of a developed India and said their welfare and empowerment remained a priority for the government.
He said the country's agricultural budget had increased more than fivefold compared to 2013-14, while PM-KISAN had become an integral source of support for small farmers.
According to the Prime Minister, more than Rs 1,000 crore had been transferred to the bank accounts of over 50 lakh farmers in Gujarat, including around Rs 50 crore benefiting thousands of farming families in Banaskantha. On Friday, more than Rs 18,000 crore was transferred to nearly 10 crore farmers across the country.
Modi also claimed that farmer-oriented policies and decisions taken by the government over the past few years had delivered benefits or savings worth more than Rs 50 lakh crore to farmers. Citing PM-KISAN, he said approximately Rs 4.5 lakh crore had been directly transferred to the bank accounts of small farmers under the scheme.
Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is observed every year on October 31 to commemorate Patel's birth anniversary and recognise his contribution to India's political integration. Patel, popularly known as the 'Iron Man of India', played a key role in bringing together 562 princely states after Independence.
The 182-metre Statue of Unity, located in Ekta Nagar, is the world's tallest statue and was dedicated to the nation by Modi on October 31, 2018. The monument commemorates Patel's contribution to national integration and symbolises the country's commitment to unity and integrity.
(With agnecy inputs from ANI and PTI)