Addressing a PM Kisan Samman Sammelan at Mehndiganj here, he said the mandate given by the people in this Lok Sabha election is “truly unprecedented and has created history”.

“I consider farmers, women, the youth and the poor as the strong pillars of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India),” Modi said during his first visit to his constituency after the Lok Sabha polls and added that the first decision of the new government was related to farmers and the poor.

He won from Varanasi with a reduced margin of 1,52,513 votes in these polls. In 2019, the margin was about 4.8 lakh.

“The people of Varanasi have not only chosen me as MP for a third time but also as prime minister,” Modi said at the event where he released the Rs 20,000-crore 17th installment of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KSN) for more than 9.26 crore farmers.

After being sworn-in as prime minister, Modi signed his first file authorising the release of this installment of the scheme.

Referring to his reelection from the constituency in Uttar Pradesh, he said, “With the blessings of Baba Vishwanath and Maa Ganga, and the immense love of the people of Kashi, I have got the privilege of becoming the country’s ‘pradhan sevak’ for the third time.”

He said the people of Kashi have blessed him by electing him as their representative for the third consecutive time and added that “‘ab to Maa Ganga ne bhee jaise mujhe god le liya hai, main yaheen ka ho gaya hoon (Now, it seems as if Mother Ganga has also adopted me, I have become part of this place)”.

It is very rare in democratic countries for governments to be elected for a third consecutive term but the people of India did this, he said.

More than 64 crore people voted in this election, Modi said and added that there is no bigger election than this in the whole world.

“I recently went to Italy to attend the G7 meeting and even if we add all the voters of all these G7 nations, the number of voters in India is one and a half times more than that number,” he said.

“Even if we add all the countries of Europe, the number of voters in India will be two and a half time more than that number,” the prime minister said.

He said more than 31 crore women participated in this election, the highest anywhere in the world. “This number is close to the entire population of the US,” Modi said.

“This the beauty of India’s democracy and this power of India’s democracy attracts the entire world as well as impacts it,” he said.

Thanking people for gathering in large numbers for the event, Modi said, “This election for the 18th Lok Sabha in India presents with full strength to the world the vastness of the Indian democracy, the strength of the Indian democracy, the comprehensiveness of the Indian democracy and the depth of the roots of the Indian democracy.”

On his government being given a third term, he said this happened in India 60 years ago. Since then no government in India has scored a hat-trick like this, Modi, who in the evening took part in the Ganga aarti at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple here, said.

“In a country like India where the youth’s aspirations are so high, where the people have so many dreams, if people give a government an opportunity to serve after 10 years of work, then it is a great victory, a great trust,” the prime minister said.

“This trust of yours is my biggest asset. This trust of yours inspires me to work hard to take the country to new heights,” Modi said.

Modi was welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak among others at the event