Modi advocates use of 'khadi for fashion'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday advocated the use of “Khadi for fashion,” urging people to buy Khadi clothes this Diwali.

Modi, who visited Ludhiana on Tuesday for an industrial excellence award ceremony, said buying Khadi will help the poor who spin the charkha celebrate. Earlier, it was only “Khadi for nation” and now it is also “Khadi for fashion”, the prime minister said.

After distributing 500 charkhas to women, Modi even tried his hand on the spinning wheel (charkha). He talked about a dream of making products with ‘zero defect’ so that all the countries buy them without a second thought.

“The global market is waiting for us,” he said. The prime minster maintained that his government has started the trend of launching important schemes in various parts of India and not only confining it to Delhi.

He emphasised on the need to promote the SC/ST entrepreneurship saying, “This sense of entrepreneurship among Dalits will benefit all. There are youth whose dreams are to create enterprises and jobs.” On the occasion, he launched ZED certification scheme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and SC/ST hub for providing support to entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, on Monday, ahead of Modi’s visit, a war widow returned her husband’s Sena medal after failing to get a favourable response to meet Modi to share her grievance. The Punjab Congress lamented the development describing it as a “slap on the face of the prime minister as well as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal”.

Surinder Kaur (60) returned her husband’s medal on Monday accusing the government of failing to provide her any help even 30 years after her husband was killed in Jaffna in Sri Lanka in 1987.

The body of Kashmir Singh, a Hawaldar with 13 Sikh Light Infantry, never came back home. He was awarded the Sena Medal posthumously in 1991. Punjab Congress leaders on Tuesday pointed out that Surinder Kaur had come to Ludhiana with her family ahead of Modi’s visit only with the hope that Modi would intervene and come to their help. However, when it became clear that they would not be allowed to even meet him, Surinder decided to return the medal.

“While our soldiers are fighting at the borders to protect our lives, Modi is busy taking mileage out of the deaths of the armed personnel,” Congress leaders said in a statement on Tuesday. Modi’s refusal to meet the war widow shows the extent of his depraved thinking, they said.