)
Nearly four million people across the country joined Run for Unity marathon, which was flagged off by the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday at Vadodara.
The run is seen as an exercise to gain support for the 'Statue of Unity' project, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s tallest statue in the world.
The ‘Run for Unity’ was organised across 1,100 locations in India on December 15, the 63rd death anniversary of Sardar Patel. At Vadodara, from where Modi kicked-off the run, nearly 300,000 people from different social background participated and set a new record of its kind. While nationally around 4 million people joined the run, an official statement claimed.
The run has kicked off the iron collection drive across the country for the statue. Modi hailed Sardar’s efforts of uniting erstwhile princely states to create a nation. He also added that India’s diversity is not her weakness but it is her strength.
“It is the responsibility of our present and future generations to strengthen India’s unity. Run for Unity is a drive towards patriotism and that it should not be seen as a part of politics,” BJP’s prime ministerial candidate stated while addressing the crowd at the Navlakhi Ground in Vadodara.
Taking a dig at the Congress-led UPA government, Modi said, "Good governance was the need of the hour.”
He further stated that India would emerge as a super power in the world on the strong pillars of unity, good governance and people’s participation. “This is not just a run for fun, but it is a public movement that would certainly lead India towards becoming a super power,” he said.
He also announced that in order to spread the message of unity, the state government would organize an essay competition in the schools across the country with awards to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore would be given away to the winners of at least 5500 schools. “We have approached around 200,000 schools in this regard,” he said.
The flag-off ceremony was held at 8 am on Sunday morning in presence of eminent citizens of Vadodara including sports persons, Eklavya and Arjuna awardees among others.
Vadodara’s annual half marathon event, Vadodara Half Marathon was also held at the same venue. Modi also flagged off the 4th edition of annual Vadodara Marathon with two major categories of 21-kms and 15-kms runs.
