Mann ki Baat: PM Modi bats for festival tourism, exhorts people to buy local products

India has a lot of potential for festival tourism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said during his montly radio programme Mann ki Baat.
"Diwali is celebrated in many parts of the world today. Not only the Indian community but also the govts of those countries, their citizens, and the social organisations there also participate in the celebrations enthusiastically," Modi said in his monthly Mann ki Baat speech.

The prime minister said that there's a lot of scope of festival tourism in India.

"We must try to popularise our festivals such as Holi, Diwali, Onam, Pongal or Bihu and it must be our endeavour to ensure that we should welcomingly invite people from other states and countries to join in the festivities. Every state and religion in our country has their own festivals and people from foreign countries have a keen interest in them," the Prime Minister said on 58th edition of his monthly radio program.

The PM also exhorted people to buy local products like Khadi.

Modi also paid tribute to Sardar Patel in his Mann ki Baat ahead of his birth anniversary on October 31.

“Sardar Patel was a person of detail. He was an excellent organiser,” Modi said while remembering how he unified India.


Modi also said while Patel's role vis-a-vis Junagarh and Hyderabad is well known, many do not know that he played a key role in uniting Lakshadweep with India.

He said that the Statue of Unity has become a great tourist spot recently and exhorted people to visit atleast 15 tourist spots in the country.

Modi also exhorted people to participate in numbers in the Run for Unity event which is being held in various towns on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.


Prime Minister Modi also paid tributes to former PM Indira Gandhi who was assasinated on October 31.