New Delhi, October 27 (IANS): The Prime Minister began the latest issue of "Mann ki Baat" by extending Diwali greetings to the people and also paid his respects to Guru Nanak, whose 550th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year.
"From Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji we learn the importance of service. The world bows to Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji", said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi also kick-started a "Bharat Ki Laxmi" campaign where he discussed about the women who have brought a great change in the society.
But the focus of Sunday's radio talk show somehow centered around Sardar Patel. Modi paid rich tributes to Patel ahead of his birth anniversary on October 31.
Calling him a "stalwart who unified India", Modi said: "We all know about Sardar Patel's efforts towards unifying some of the bigger places such as Hyderabad and Junagadh. But, do you know that he focused equally up on smaller places like Lakshadweep also".
Pushes for festival tourism
The Prime Minister stressed the need to focus on festival tourism in India and urged Indians living abroad to promote traditional festivals.
Noting that Diwali is celebrated in several countries with the participation of their goverenments, Modi said that India presented immense possibilities for festival tourism as it was a "land of festivals".
"We must try to popularize our festivals such as Holi, Diwali, Onam, Pongal and Bihu and invite people from other states and countries too to join the festivities," Modi said in his 58th 'Mann Ki Baat' episode.
He said that every state and region in the country have their own festivals and people from foreign nations have a keen interest in them.
"In our country, every region has so many diverse festivals which the Indians living abroad must promote so as to facilitate festival tourism in India."
The Prime Minister said that Indians living abroad have an important role in boosting festival tourism in India.
Modi also urged the people to be compassionate and generous during the festive season to ensure that the less privileged also become part of the celebrations.
Later in the day, Modi celebrated Diwali with soldiers of Indian Army at Line of Control in Rajouri District of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.
This is in continuation with the tradition set by Prime Minister himself. This is the third time he has celebrated Diwali with the real heroes in Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi visited the "Hall of Fame" in Rajouri where he paid homage to the soldiers and citizens, who laid down their lives to protect Rajouri and Poonch sectors. PM termed the Hall of fame as "Parakram Bhoomi, Prerna Bhoomi, and Paavan Bhoomi ".
Prime Minister also visited the Pathankot Airbase to meet the brave air warriors of Indian Air Force (IAF).
Modi, while addressing the soldiers, said that everyone endeavours to travel far and wide to celebrate the festival of Diwali with family members and likewise he too travelled to be with the members of his family, the brave Jawans of the Armed Forces.
Prime Minister recalled the valour and supreme sacrifices made by the Armed forces in October 27 1947, which is also celebrated as infantry day.
Prime Minister also listed the steps being taken by the Government to further strengthen and modernize the Indian defence forces. He added that the Government is committed to taking steps to ensure the welfare of soldiers.
To pay homage and mark their contributions, the government endeavoured to engrave the landmark National War Memorial in the Capital, the Prime Minister said adding that the increasing number of visitors to the Memorial shows the respect accorded by the citizens towards the contributions of armed forces.
