Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 14 likened the spirit of the festival of Pongal to that of national unity, one of “Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat”.
Addressing a gathering at Union Minister L. Murugan’s residence to mark the festival of Pongal celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Modi said that the same emotive connection of unity could be seen in his government’s programmes of Kashi-Tamil Sangamam and Kashi-Saurashtra Sangamam, where links between these geographically separate areas could be celebrated.
“This feeling of unity is the biggest force to build a Viksit Bharat by 2047. The main element of the ‘Panch Pran’ that I have invoked from the Red Fort is to energise the unity of the country and to strengthen the unity,” he said.