In his 25-minute speech at the place of origin of the Narmada river, Amarkantak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was speaking at the conclusion of the “Narmada Seva Yatra”, an initiative by the Madhya Pradesh government to save the Narmada river, said that if people had been responsible, the fate of the river would have been different.
Referring to the massive sand mining that has depleted rivers, Modi said, “Narmada saved us, our ancestors, but we took it for granted and looted from her as much as we could, without caring for Narmada and it is because of this that the same river that saved us, we are being forced to make efforts to save her. There is a river in Kerala, that is the only river that has ‘Bharat’ in its name (Bharathapuzha river), but its future is uncertain. The rivers have not vanished because of use of water, but because people who had the responsibility to protect it, could not,” Modi said.
The speech that was heard by close to one lakh people, mostly villagers and locals, who were brought to the venue in buses, was reminiscent of one of the many 2014 Lok Sabha rallies done by Modi, as chants of “Modi-Modi” broke out from the crowd at least thrice during his speech.
Political watchers from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, which shares its border with Amarkantak, were also present at the venue amid strong speculation that both Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh might be moved to Delhi by PM Modi and given responsibilities in the Cabinet.
Prime Minister Modi, who was at his cryptic best during the speech, lauded the efforts done by state Chief Minister Chouhan for taking up the effort to save the Narmada.
“When you do a parikrama of the river, all your arrogance vanishes, the Narmada river grounds you and frees the individual of all responsibilities and positions. Change of time can change the fortunes of people,” PM Modi said. Apart from CM Chouhan, who stated that close to six crore saplings would be planted along the river banks to save the river, Modi shared the stage with BJP MLA Sanjay Pathak.
CM Chouhan, who was termed by the PM as a “man of ideas”, announced that he was soon going to introduce a course in universities on river conservation, and unveiled the Narmada action conservation plans to save the river.