‘Shastri was short but not short-sighted’: Kalahandi girl wins heart with her speech in Parliament

Bhubaneswar: Anmol Ankita, a resident of Odisha’s Kalahandi district, is winning hearts for her talk on India’s former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Parliament, which has now gone viral.

She was the lone participant from Odisha among eight speakers from 29 states in the programme organised by Ministry of Youth Affairs and conducted by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan on October 2.

Starting her around 4 minutes talk with ‘Jai Jagannath’, Anmol touched upon the humble life of Shastri and described him as a man high in patriotic zeal and spirits but deep in roots. “He was short but not short-sighted. The seeds of ‘Amrit Kaal’ have been laid in the past by our second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. He carefully encapsulated the young striving India, he was the man behind Green and White revolutions, taking India many steps forward in potential compared to its theoretical capacity,” she said.

She stated that Shastri’s call for reliance was one of the “earliest avatars of Aatmanirbhar Bharat ” and traced the roots of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to the former PM’s appointment of women conductors. “Sashtri ji believed it is not the endeavour of a few people but the hard work of many that makes a country great and this trait is reflected today in policies of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ and ‘Jan Bhagidari’,” she said, adding how his accountability raised the standards of public services.

Talking about the selection process, Anmol told the media that it started with the district-level competition held in Kalahandi, where she stood first. She also emerged as the winner at the state-level competition, where participants from 29 districts participated. “Then a competition was held among the state tops and eight among them were selected as speakers,” she said.

She said that it was one of the best experience for her and she felt the aura of Parliament when taken around the new building.

Anmol did her schooling from Bhawanipatna and recently completed her BSc from Kalahandi university. She aims to become an IAS officer and looks up to her mother for inspiration.