Matter of pride that six daughters of Gujarat taking part in Olympics: Shah

PTI, Jul 11, 2021, 8:07 PM IST

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that six “daughters” of Gujarat, who will be representing India in the Tokyo Olympics, is a matter of pride for all Gujaratis, and added that they should become an inspiration for other children and their parents to take up and do well in sports.

Addressing a gathering here, Shah said that the day is not far when players from Gujarat will come back with gold medals.

He said their selection for the Tokyo Olympics is an answer to the critics of the state government’s ‘Khele Gujarat’ initiative that aims to groom students for sports.

”It is a matter of pride for me and for all of us that six daughters from Gujarat, including three from Ahmedabad, are going to represent India in the Olympics to be held in Japan’s capital Tokyo from July 23,” Shah said.

”When we (Gujarat government) started ‘Khele Gujarat,’ many newspapers would make fun and ask whether we can win gold medals by playing Kabaddi and Kho Kho. We have not won a medal yet, but it is certain that six daughters of Gujarat will represent India at the Olympics, and I can see the day is not far when they will even come back with gold,” the minister said. Shah was here to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for development projects worth Rs 42.01 crore in three talukas of Sanand, Bavla and Daskroi that come under his Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

He said the players from Gujarat should become inspiration for children and their parents to take up sports and do well in them. Their photos should inspire the children to play, and their parents should also get inspired to see their kids doing well in sports, he said.

Shah likened the COVID-19 vaccination to ‘Sudarshan chakra’, a powerful spinning, disk-like weapon wielded by the Lord Vishnu as per Hindu mythology. ”Vaccination will create a safety net, which will work to protect people of Ahmedabad, Gujarat or India from coronavirus. Like ‘Sudarshan chakra’ once provided protection to Dwarka Nagri, this ‘suraksha chakra’ will protect people of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the entire country from coronavirus,” he said.

He said that the fight against coronavirus remains ”a matter of primary concern” for the government. Shah said that during his last visit to Gujarat, he laid the foundation stones and inaugurated projects worth Rs 250 crore.

In the two days of his current visit, he will do so for projects worth Rs 100 crore. ”In two months, the inauguration and foundation stone-laying works of Rs 350 crore worth of projects show how fast the pace of development is,” he said.

The former BJP chief said the central government under Narendra Modi remains committed to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy. ”The opposition got an opportunity to make fun when work was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. But I say even today that under Narendrabhai’s leadership, the government is seriously aiming to take the country on top of the world. We have to go forward, and the pace of development should not slow down,” he said. He urged the BJP workers in his Lok Sabha constituency to spread the awareness about vaccination among the people. He also asked them to make people aware of the free ration scheme of the central government, and take part in the tree plantation drive.