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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most followed personality in India and the Uttarakhand government is seem to taking full advantage of it. The state tourism department is working on a plan to develop a “Modi Circuit” at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, covering the places visited by PM Modi while shooting for a television programme in 2019 to attract more people and boost tourism which is already a popular tourist destination.
For the unversed, PM Modi had undertaken a number of adventure activities while shooting for an episode of “Man vs Wild”, hosted by Bear Grylls on Discovery channel. During the shoot, PM Modi and Bear Grylls crossed the Kosi river on a makeshift raft and walked through a tiger trail, with the Prime Minister holding a spear in his hand.
The circuit named after the prime minister is a trail that will cover all the places he visited during a special episode of “Man vs Wild”, with Bear Grylls.
In the episode, Grylls had met PM Modi at a rendezvous point and proceeded on a series of adventures, including fashioning an improvised spear from a stick in an area of the park said to be dominated by tigers, with the help of a knife and rope. The two had walked alongside the Kosi River and crossed it using a makeshift raft amid rain. The PM was quite the sport; he even had a drink concocted from neem leaves.
Uttarakhand Minister of Tourism Satpal Maharaj said the idea for a ‘Modi Circuit’ came to him when he heard about the Game of Thrones tour during a visit to Croatia, as part of which tourists are taken to the locations where the famous TV series was shot.
“We have already created several circuits, for Maa Bhagwati, Shiva, Vishnu, Nav-grah, Golju Maharaj, Nagdevta, Hanuman, and Vivekanand. There is another major idea we are working on. PM Modi went to Jim Corbett Park with Bear Grylls. We are making a Modi trail for that. We will take tourists to places visited by PM Modi,” he told The Indian Express.
Those working on the circuit are confident it will be a big hit.
Colonel Ashwini Pundir, the additional CEO of the Adventure Sports Division of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, told The Indian Express, that Modi is the “biggest influencer in the country” and development authorities want tourists to have a similar experience.m“We want the tourists to have the experience the PM had. We will also put up write-ups at important points to inform you that this is the place where PM Modi did a particular activity,” he said.
According to the official, while Uttarkhand is beautiful, adding a point of attraction with some activities will further tourism.
The state already has created tourism circuits named after deities like Maa Bhagwati, Shiva, Vishnu, Nav-grah, Golju Maharaj, Nagdevta, and Hanuman. In 2017, it started the Vivekananda Circuit that takes people around the Kumaon region, where the monk and philosophers, spent time. The journey starts at Kakrighant, where Vivekananda arrived more than a century ago, and takes you through Almora, Dewaldhar village, Nainital, Bhimtal and Shyamlatal, according to the Uttarakhand Tourism website.
Man Vs Wild with Grylls and Modi had recorded the highest-ever ratings in the infotainment genre, according to data by BARC India. The premiere of the show emerged as the highest-ever rated show in the history of the genre in India garnering 6.9 million impressions, according to a report in India Today.
Bear Grylls and PM Narendra Modi in a still from Man vs Wild (Photo Courtesy: IANS)
The BJP spokesperson told The Indian Express that Modi was the “biggest brand in the state” and his name can benefit tourism in the state.
With inputs from agencies
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