Modi Tells Seva Yatra Riders Rural-Urban Gap Has Narrowed

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, September 25, interacted by video conference with participants in the Seva Yatra motorcycle campaign, using the exchange to highlight rural development, women’s self-reliance and the role of young people in community service.

Addressing riders travelling from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Vadnagar in Gujarat, Modi said the gap between India’s cities and villages had narrowed significantly over the past 12 years. He attributed the change to improvements in village infrastructure and government efforts to expand public services beyond major urban centres.

The prime minister also said women had become more self-reliant since his government first took office in 2014. His remarks placed rural transformation and women’s participation at the centre of a conversation that also covered social reform, grassroots engagement and the responsibilities of people involved in public life.

Service beyond electoral politics

Modi urged participants to work continuously for positive social change rather than treating service solely as an electoral activity. Politics and elections had their place, he said, but those committed to nation-building should maintain a longer-term focus on public welfare.

He encouraged the riders to record what they observed during the journey, including the concerns of residents and their experiences with development programmes. The participants described meetings with citizens, students and beneficiaries of government schemes in several districts along the route.

The interaction also touched on development in Bundelkhand, where riders discussed public responses to projects and welfare initiatives, including the Ken-Betwa river-linking project. Such accounts presented the journey as a platform for political outreach as well as a channel for collecting local feedback.

Modi asked the participants to understand India by travelling through its villages and speaking directly with communities. He said first-hand observation could offer a fuller picture of the country than relying only on written material or formal presentations.

Journey links Vadnagar and Varanasi

The motorcycle campaign connects Vadnagar, Modi’s birthplace, with Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency he has represented in the Lok Sabha since 2014. Groups are travelling in both directions across multiple states, passing through towns, districts and villages.

The rallies began on September 17, Modi’s 76th birthday, and are scheduled to conclude on October 7. The dates were selected as part of a campaign marking 25 years since Modi became Gujarat’s chief minister on October 7, 2001, beginning a period of elected executive office that was followed by his move to the prime ministership in 2014.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s wider Seva Sankalp Abhiyan includes public outreach and welfare-related activities. Organisers have said the motorcycle participants are divided into multiple groups and will collectively cover tens of thousands of kilometres.

Along their routes, participants have taken part in cleanliness drives and visited schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other community institutions. The programme combines youth participation, cultural engagement, social welfare activities and communication with beneficiaries of government initiatives.

Public service message

During Friday’s interaction, Modi linked Vadnagar with the values he said shaped his early life and described Varanasi, also known as Kashi, as a place that expanded his experience of public service. He told the riders that their work could carry that message to communities across the country.

The prime minister also connected the campaign with the government’s goal of making India a developed nation by 2047, the centenary of independence. He said young citizens would have an important role in advancing that objective through service, innovation, connectivity and participation in local development.

Modi had held a separate virtual interaction on Thursday with participants travelling in the opposite direction, from Vadnagar to Varanasi. Across both exchanges, he emphasised discipline, road safety and service through conduct rather than slogans alone.

The campaign remains a BJP-organised political initiative celebrating Modi’s record in public office. His statements about rural progress and women’s empowerment represent the government’s assessment of its performance, while the journey is intended to reinforce that development narrative through direct engagement with communities along the two routes.