Manohar Parrikar thanked PM Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari for helping develop Goa infrastructure
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar drew loud cheers from an audience while inaugurating the Mandovi bridge in Panaji on Sunday when he delivered a catchy line from the film "Uri: The Surgical Strike".
"How's the Josh," said the chief minister, mic firmly in hand. That drew a loud applause from those gathered in Goa's Panaji to see the inauguration of the 5.1 km-long bridge over the Mandovi river. When the cheers died down, he repeated the line, drawing an even louder applause this time as the chief minister, with a medical tube tapped on his nose, looked straight ahead with a faint smile.
Mr Parrikar said the new bridge that has been given the name "Atal Setu" is India's third-longest cable-stayed bridge.
"With the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and Nitin Gadkari ji, Goa is making rapid progress on infrastructure development," Mr Parrikar tweeted on Sunday night. "There is opposition for everything. This mentality has developed. Goans should be positive now. This is my message today... With who's money is the bridge being built? Whose money is it? It is not my money. It is your money, people's money," Manohar Parrikar said, according to news agency IANS.
Mr Gadkari, who attended the inauguration of the bridge, said the new structure will be beneficial for the people of Goa and also for tourists coming to the coastal state. "It will ease traffic congestion. This bridge will also be an attraction for tourists," Mr Gadkari tweeted.
Even Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted on Sunday to say "how's the josh" after watching the film that tells the story of India's brilliant military response in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in September 2016.
Manohar Parrikar has been unwell for some time over a pancreatic condition. He last inspected the Mandovi river bridge while work was still going on in December last year; it was also his first public appearance since he spent months in hospital in Delhi.