It was a red-letter day for Santoshi G. Aralagundagi, a resident of Kinni Sadak village in Kamalapur taluk of Kalaburagi district as she got an opportunity to interact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Mr. Modi, during his video interaction with the beneficiaries of the Union Government’s welfare programmes, which was named Garib Kalyan Sammelan and organised to mark the 75 years of Independence, said he was impressed by the way Ms. Aralagundagi expressed her views.
“Ms. Aralagundagi, assume if I was in Karnataka and I was a BJP worker, I would have definitely made you contest elections,” Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister remotely interacted with the beneficiaries through videoconference from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.
Ms. Aralagundagi, who owns a departmental store, is the beneficiary of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre Scheme. During the virtual interaction with Mr. Modi, she said her family members and the villagers had benefited from the government’s ambitious healthcare scheme.
Ms. Aralagundagi, who spoke in Kannada (which was translated into Hindi), explained how her family benefited from the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
“The villagers of Kinni Sadak were forced to travel long distances to get treatment and I used to spend around ₹3,000 a month for the treatment of my 75-year-old ailing mother, Neelamma. I used to take my mother to a private hospital at Kamalapur, which is 13 km away from our village. After ASHAs [Accredited Social Health Activists] educated me about the health scheme, I began to get my mother’s diagnosis, treatment, and medicines for free on my doorstep,” she said.
Though Ms. Aralagundagi spoke in Kannada, the Prime Minister said: “I am impressed by her appealing way of explaining things and the satisfaction she got from the government schemes.“
“Ms. Aralagundagi, you have explained the benefits of the scheme so well and in an appealing manner. You can become a great leader of the village. Assume if I was in Karnataka and I was working as a BJP worker, then I would have definitely made you contest the elections,” the Prime Minister said.
Later, speaking to mediapersons, Ms. Aralagundagi expressed happiness over getting an opportunity to interact with the Prime Minister and thanked the district administration for the opportunity. She also expressed her desire to contest elections as Mr. Modi mentioned during the interaction.
