PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat: Khadi not a cloth, but a movement to help the poor

By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
We all are aware that for the last several years, our PM Narendra Modi has left no stone unturned to popularize Khadi and create a mass movement where everyone purchases Khadi products, specially on the special day of Gandhi Jayanti.Recently PM Modi inaugurated new Khadi Gramudyog Bhavan in Ahmedabad’s “Khadi Utsav” and said that “Khadi instills self respect, can inspire India to become developed nation.”.Modi has always been promoting Khadi and has also mentioned it in his radio address multiple times. His Mann Ki Baat’ gives utmost importance of Khadi and its role in the empowerment of the countrymen.He even talked about the growth of the Khadi industry in this year’s Independence Day address. According to him poor are getting jobs because the sales of Khadi have increased and the recent data revealed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) backs the claim. In relation with Khadi, Sardar Patel has said that India`s freedom lays in Khadi and so does the nation`s cultural identity. Our PM himself regularly wears Khadi and has been doing so since the very early days when he was working for the RSS and BJP organisation. He has popularised it among the masses and even among foreign dignitaries, while developing his own styles around khadi.He has given the Mantra of ‘Khadi for nation, Khadi for fashion’ – the idea that Khadi can become a symbol of national pride and a fashion statement, which can be popular among the youth.
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), is a statutory organisation engaged in promoting and developing Khadi and village industries created by the Act of Parliament. Khadi refers to a hand-spun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a charkha, a traditional spinning implement. Khadi was launched in 1920 as a political weapon in the Swadeshi movement of Mahatma Gandhi. The relevance of Khadi and Village Industries is that they are both labour intensive in nature. In the wake of industrialization, and the mechanization of almost all processes, Khadi and Village industries are suited like no other to a labour surplus country like India.
Modi repeatedly says that “When we purchase a Khadi, we are brightening the lives of the lakhs of weavers who toil day and night. Buying a Khadi product is like ushering a Diwali in the homes of the weavers. He feels that khadi is getting wide acceptance in the society for the last decade and it would be in the fitness of things for each person to buy at least one pair of khadi dress as the best possible tribute to the Mahatma. 
Gandhiji was the founder of Khadi, but it was Khadi which inspired Gandhiji at every stage of his life and work. The first inspiration came to him in the year 1908. He returned to India from South Africa on Jan 9th 1915 and started his ashram at Ahmadabad. Here the Khadi became a practical.Khadi became a common factor among the “satyagrah” and served as unifying thread among Indians. It was right called “the livery of freedom”
Gandhiji launched the programme of Khadi and village industries as an integral part of the freedom struggle for the economic emancipation of the downtrodden masses of India by providing them with gain full employment and subsistence to them. The Charkha is a powerful symbol that Mahatma Gandhi used during his fight against colonialism and injustice. It stood for self-sustenance and a war against poverty. Mahatma Gandhi strongly advocated the usage of Khadi products. No doubt, today there is greater awareness about Khadi and it can be a powerful means of empowering the poorest of the poor.