PM’s address at the inauguration of Chauri Chaura Centenary Celebrations at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh
Speaker: Narendra Modi
Date: 04 Feb, 2021

I bow down to Gorakhnath, the land of incarnation of Lord Shiva. This district is progressing well due to the blessings of Devraha Baba. Today, I welcome and bow before the great people of Chauri Chaura, the land of Devraha Baba. Smt Anandiben Patel ji, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, glorious and popular Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji, ministers of UP government, MPs, MLAs and my brothers and sisters present in the program. I bow down and pay respectful homage to those who sacrificed for the country on the sacred land of Chauri Chaura and gave a new direction to the freedom struggle of the country. The program is also being attended by the kin of martyrs and freedom fighters in different districts. The families of many freedom fighters are also connected with online today. I greet and respect all of you also. Friends, What happened in Chauri Chaura 100 years ago was not just an incident of arson or torching a police station. The message of Chauri Chaura was very huge and encompassing. For many reasons, whenever it came to Chauri Chaura, it was seen in the context of a minor arson. But the circumstances and reasons under which the arson took place are equally important. The police station was not only set on fire; the fire had been raging in the hearts of the people. Every effort is commendable for the status that is being given to the historic struggle of Chauri Chaura in the history of the country today. I congratulate Yogi ji and his entire team for this. A postage stamp has also been issued today on the centenary of Chauri Chaura. The programs will be held throughout the year beginning today. In the meantime, the sacrifices of brave freedom fighters of every village, every region, along with Chauri Chaura will also be remembered. When the country is heralding the 75th year of its independence this year, such an event makes it even more relevant. Friends, Chauri Chaura was the spontaneous struggle of the common man of the country. Unfortunately, the martyrs of Chauri Chaura were not discussed in detail. The martyrs and revolutionaries of this struggle may not have been given a prominent place in the pages of history, but their blood for freedom has definitely been in the country’s soil, which always inspires us. They belonged to different villages, different ages, different social backgrounds, but together they were the brave children of Mother Bharati. There may be fewer instances in the freedom movement when 19 freedom fighters were hanged for one incident. The British Empire was bent on hanging hundreds of freedom fighters. But about 150 people were saved from hanging due to the efforts of Baba Raghavdas and Mahamana Malaviya ji. Therefore, today is also the day to pay homage and remember Baba Raghavdas and Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya ji. Friends, I am happy that our students and youth are also being connected to this entire campaign through competitions. Our youth will know many unspoken aspects of history when they will study it. The Ministry of Education of the Government of India has also invited young writers to write books on freedom fighters, events and papers on completion of 75 years of independence. There are so many brave fighters of the ChauriChaura incident whose lives you can highlight before the country. Efforts have been made to connect these programs of the centenary of ChauriChaura with local art, culture and self-reliance. These efforts will also be our tribute to our freedom fighters. I also appreciate Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji and the UP government for this event. Friends, The collective strength that unfettered the shackles of slavery will also make India the world’s greatest power. This power of collectivity is the basis of the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. We are making the country self-reliant for 130 crore countrymen and also for the entire global family. Imagine, during this corona period, when India sent necessary medicines to help citizens of more than 150 countries, when India evacuated more than 5 million of its citizens from different countries of the world, when India sent thousands of citizens from many countries to their country safely, and when India itself is making corona vaccines today and is also vaccinating at a fast pace compared to developed countries of the world, when India is providing vaccines to all over the world keeping in view the protection of human life, the souls of our freedom fighters must be feeling very proud. Friends, Unprecedented efforts are also needed to make this campaign a success. A glimpse of these concerted efforts is also reflected in this year’s Budget. This Budget is going to give a new impetus to the challenges faced by the country during the Corona period. Friends, many luminaries were saying before the Budget that the country has faced such a huge crisis, therefore, the government will have to increase taxes, burden the common citizen of the country, impose new taxes, but no burden has been imposed on the countrymen in this Budget. Rather, the government has decided to spend more and more to take the country forward expeditiously. The money will be spent to build wider roads in the country, to connect your villages with cities, markets, mandis, to build bridges, to lay rail tracks, to run new trains and buses. A number of decisions have been taken in the Budget to provide good education and create more opportunities for our youth. And friends, there will also be requirements for those who will carry out this work. When the government spends more on infrastructure, lakhs of youngsters in the country will also get employment and there will be new avenues of income. Friends, For decades, the Budget in our country was relegated to announcing schemes in the name of somebody. The Budget was turned into the bahi-khata (ledger) of the vote-bank calculations. You also make an account for the household expenses in accordance with your present and future responsibilities. But the Budget for earlier governments meant announcement of schemes which they could not fulfill. Now the country has changed that mindset and approach. Friends, The way India has fought this pandemic during the Corona period is being appreciated all over the world today. Many countries in the world are also learning from our vaccination campaign. Now, it is the endeavour of the country to have such a system of treatment in every village and town so that nobody has to rush to cities for every minor ailment. Not only that major decisions have been taken so that there are no difficulties in getting treatment in hospitals even in cities. So far, if you have to undergo a major test or check-up, you have to go to Gorakhpur from your village. Or, sometimes you go to Lucknow or Banaras. From now, modern testing labs will be set up in all the districts, the check-ups will be done in the districts itself so that you don’t face these difficulties. Therefore, the Budget has provisioned a lot of expenditure in the health sector. Friends, Our farmers have also been the biggest base of our country’s progress. The farmers had a very big role in the ChauriChaura incident. Continuous efforts have been made for the progress of the farmers in the last six years so that they become self-reliant. The country has seen the result during the Corona period. Even amid the challenges of the pandemic, our agriculture sector grew firmly, and the farmers made a record production. If our farmer is empowered, the growth in the agriculture sector will be further intensified. A number of steps have been taken in this Budget. One thousand more mandis will be linked to e-NAM so that these become markets for farmers’ gains. That is, it will now be easier when the farmer will go the mandi to sell his produce. He will be able to sell his produce anywhere. At the same time, the infrastructure fund for rural areas has been increased to Rs. 40,000 crores. It will also directly benefit the farmers. All these decisions will make our farmers self-reliant, make agriculture a profitable business. The Pradhan Mantri Swamitva Scheme, which has been launched by the central government in UP, is also going to play an important role in the development of villages in the country. Under the scheme, ownership rights of village lands and houses are being given to the village people. When there will be legal papers for land and houses, not only will their value increase, the people will be able to get loans from banks easily. No one will be able to cast an evil eye on the house and the land of the village people. It will be a great benefit to the small farmers of the country and the poor families of the village. Friends, Gorakhpur itself is a great example of how these efforts are changing the image of the country today. What was the condition here earlier in this land of revolutionaries and the martyrs? The factories were shutting down, the roads were woeful and the hospitals themselves became sick. But now the Gorakhpur fertilizer factory is starting again. It will benefit the farmers and also provide employment to the youth. Now, AIIMS is coming up in Gorakhpur. The medical college and hospital here is saving the lives of thousands of children. For the past several decades, encephalitis, which was earlier mentioned by Yogi ji, was swallowing the lives of children. But the work done by the people of Gorakhpur under the leadership of Yogi ji is now being appreciated by the important institutions of the world. Now, new medical colleges are also being set up in Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Maharajganj and Siddharthnagar. Friends, Earlier, Purvanchal had another major problem. You may recall, if somebody had to cover a distance of 50 kms earlier, he had to leave three to four hours before. But, today, four and six-lane roads are being constructed here. Not only that, there is a flight facility to eight cities from Gorakhpur. The international airport at Kushinagar would also boost the tourism sector. Friends, These developments, these changes for self-reliance are the country’s homage to every freedom fighter. Today, when we are celebrating the Chauri Chaura centenary year, we have to resolve to pursue this change with collective participation. We also have to resolve that the unity of the country is the first most for us and the dignity of the country is the greatest for us. With this spirit, we have to move forward with every countryman. I am sure we will complete the journey that we have undertaken with the creation of a new India. On the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the martyrs, I once again implore not to forget them who sacrificed for the country. They were martyred and as a result we became free. They died for the country, sacrificed themselves and extinguished their dreams. At least, we are not compelled to die, but we must take the resolve to live for the country. They were fortunate that they could die for the country; we got the privilege to live for the country. While remembering the martyrs of Chauri Chaura, this centenary year should be a year of resolutions for us, for realizing our dreams, for the betterment of the people. Only then will this hundred years of martyrdom become an opportunity to take us to new heights and their martyrdom will be the cause of our inspiration. With this spirit, I thank you all once again.