SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Nov. 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was earlier scheduled to visit Jharkhand to visit Ulihatu, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda on November 15, will arrive here a day ahead.
According to sources, Modi will arrive here at 9 pm and will go to the Raj Bhawan holding a 10-km ‘roadshow’ from the airport in the State capital. He will be received by Chief Minister Hemant Soren and senior BJP leaders at the airport.
Officially, the PM’s roadshow will not be continuous and is scheduled to be welcomed at eight places only en route to the Raj Bhawan, but for all practical purposes, it will be a continuous roadshow when Modi is in town.
According to sources, Modi will be campaigning in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) tomorrow and come straight to Ranchi instead of going to New Delhi. The SPG team is arriving today to give the final touches in consultation with the State government to take steps for the PM’s safety, particularly given the change in his itinerary.
A day after, Modi is scheduled to pay homage to the celebrated tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda at Ulihatu in Khunti district, 65 km from here, on his birth anniversary, declared by the Central government as ‘Jan Jatiya Gaurav Diwas’. Jharkhand was created on November 15 in 2000 to coincide with Birsa Munda’s birthday.
Birsa Munda was a young freedom fighter and a tribal leader, whose spirit of activism in the late nineteenth century, is remembered to be a strong mark of protest against British rule in India.
Before flying to Ulihatu on November 15, Modi is scheduled to visit Bhagwan Birsa Munda Museum in Ranchi. The museum containing a 25-foot statue of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, highlights his contribution along with other tribal freedom fighters. Modi had inaugurated the museum on November 15, 2021.
The museum was built by the Union Tribal Affairs ministry in association with the State Government of Jharkhand at the Old Central Jail in Ranchi, where Bhagwan Birsa Munda had sacrificed his life.
After paying homage to Birsa Munda and interacting with his descendants, Modi will launch the ‘Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ on November 15 at Khunti. This yatra will cover 2.5 lakh gram panchayats and 3700 urban local bodies at more than 14,000 locations with more than 2500 IEC vans. The yatra will start from tribal areas and will last for two months.
He will also address a rally in Khunti and interact with the descendants of Birsa Munda.
Modi will also inaugurate the new campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi online. Besides, the newly constructed buildings of IIT-ISM Dhanbad are also to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister.
