Good governance is our birthright, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi, July 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that “Suraaj” (good governance), like “Swaraj” (self-rule), is the “birthright” of every Indian and they should have it. Remembering freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak — who was born on July 23, 1856, and died on August 1, 1920 — Modi said: “Lokmanya Tilak evoked self-confidence amongst our countrymen and gave the slogan ‘Swaraj is our birthright and I shall have it’. Today is the time to say that good governance is our birthright and we will have it.”

“Every Indian should have access to good governance and positive results of development. It is the factoring in of this outreach that will create a new India,” he said in his monthly radio show “Mann Ki Baat”. During his election campaign in 2014, Modi had frequently promised the people that he would ensure “good governance.”

The Prime Minister also remembered revolutionary freedom fighters Chandra Shekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan and Bhagat Singh. Azad was born on July 23, 1906. “After 50 years of Tilak’s birth, on the same day, that is, July 23, another son of Mother India was born who sacrificed his life so that his countrymen could breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom. I am talking about none other than Chandra Shekhar Azad,” Modi said.

He said couplets like Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai/ Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai (The desire to lay down our lives is burning in our hearts/ Let’s see the strength of our executioner’s arms) inspired the youth like Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, Bhagat Singh and many others did.

Azad famously shot himself with the last bullet in his pistol during an encounter with the police on February 27, 1931, at a park in Allahabad, to keep his vow to never surrender to the British. “Once again, I bow and pay tributes to the two great sons of Bharat Mata - Lokmanya Tilak and Chandra Shekhar Azad,” Modi said. (IANS)