Navsari, Sep 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Gujarat’s Navsari district for taking up campaigns to make the district free of malnutrition and tuberculosis (TB), saying such efforts could have a lasting impact on future generations.

Speaking at a public meeting here, PM Modi said the district’s campaign against malnutrition is significant because it involved the health and well-being of children and the blessings of mothers and families.

“Making a district free of malnutrition means receiving the blessings of every family and every mother. It is something lakhs of times more powerful than votes,” he added.

PM Modi said the success of such an effort should not be measured only in political terms, but by whether families could say that their children were no longer malnourished and that somebody had taken responsibility for their well-being.

“When mothers and sisters from every household bless you and say that no one in their home is malnourished anymore, that no small child is malnourished anymore, and that someone is concerned about their child — that the child continues to smile, that the child’s face remains cheerful and radiant, and someone stays awake and works for that — receiving those blessings is something extraordinary,” he added.

The Prime Minister also spoke about tuberculosis and the possibility of patients recovering through timely treatment and nutritional support.

“Now TB is not such a frightening disease anymore. If a patient is taken care of properly for exactly six months, whatever medicines the government provides are given regularly, and if arrangements are made to provide food and that food is given, the patient can become free of TB within six months,” PM Modi said.

He added that India is moving forward in the direction of becoming TB-free, while highlighting the commitment made by Navsari workers to pursue the same objective at the district level.

“And today, India is successfully moving forward in the direction of becoming TB-free. But when my (BJP) workers in Navsari district take a pledge that we will make Navsari district TB-free, it means that you are working for the welfare of future generations,” he said.

PM Modi added that public service undertaken at the grassroots could create a form of social goodwill that was different from electoral support.

He said the affection and blessings of people who benefited from such work gave BJP workers the motivation to continue their efforts.

“Service never goes waste. And society is so generous that it never forgets to repay its debt. It repays that debt through its blessings,” he added.

He said that such blessings could also encourage BJP workers to take up new initiatives and sustain their efforts.

The Prime Minister said initiatives such as the malnutrition- and TB-free campaigns represented the same broader principle of public service: identifying problems affecting ordinary families and working consistently to address them.

He also called upon party workers to ensure that the new BJP office became a place where citizens could bring their problems and seek assistance.

“Every citizen has a right over us here, and we are their servants,” PM Modi emphasised.

He added that the BJP workers should treat the entire Navsari district as one family and work with renewed enthusiasm to serve its residents.

–IANS

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