Prime Minister Narendra Modi Pushes for Festival Tourism

PM also kickstarts the ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’ campaign

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed the need to focus on festival tourism in India and urged Indians living abroad to promote traditional festivals.

Beginning his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ monthly radio episode by extending Diwali greetings to the nation, the Prime Minister said: “We should pray to eliminate the enmity on the occasion.”

Noting that Diwali is celebrated in several countries with the participation of their governments, Modi said that India presents immense possibilities for festival tourism as it is a “land of festivals”.

“We must try to popularize our festivals such as Holi, Diwali, Onam, Pongal and Bihu and invite people from other States and countries too to join the festivities,” Modi said in his 58th ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode.

He said that every State and region in the country have their own festivals, and people from foreign nations have a keen interest in them.

“In our country, every region has so many diverse festivals which the Indians living abroad must promote so as to facilitate festival tourism in India.”

The Prime Minister said that Indians living abroad have an important role in boosting festival tourism in India.

Modi also urged the people to be compassionate and generous during the festive season to ensure that the less privileged also become part of the celebrations.

The Prime Minister also paid his respects to Guru Nanak, whose 550th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year.

“From Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji we learn the importance of service. The world bows to Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi also kickstarted a “Bharat Ki Laxmi” campaign where he discussed about the women who have brought a great change in the society.

But the focus of Sunday’s radio talk show somehow centered around Sardar Patel. Modi paid rich tributes to Patel ahead of his birth anniversary on October 31.

Calling him a “stalwart who unified India”, Modi said: “We all know about Sardar Patel’s efforts towards unifying some of the bigger places such as Hyderabad and Junagadh. But, do you know that he focused equally up on smaller places like Lakshadweep also”. (IANS)

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