Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday, 17 July 2026, reaffirmed the state's commitment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nature-centric campaign 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' ('One Tree in Mother's Name'), highlighting an enthusiastic public response to a constituency-level plantation drive in Gandhinagar under the guidance of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.

Context

Posting in Gujarati on X, Chief Minister Patel wrote that 'Gujarat katibaddh chhe' — Gujarat is committed — to intensive tree plantation under the campaign. He thanked BJP workers and local citizens for their 'enthusiastic response' in the effort to make the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency a 'Hariyali Lok Sabha' (Green Lok Sabha). The post also carried four images documenting the plantation activity on the ground.

Patel extended special gratitude to Amit Shah — referred to warmly as 'Amitbhai' — for 'continuously inspiring' participants in the drive, and expressed confidence that the 'Hariyali Lok Sabha' resolve would become 'an example for the entire country.'

Policy Backdrop

The 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' campaign was launched by Prime Minister Modi on World Environment Day 2024, urging citizens across India to plant trees in honour of their mothers. The initiative sits within a broader national framework that includes the National Mission for a Green India and seasonal Van Mahotsav plantation programmes that Gujarat has run since the 2010s.

Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital and the Lok Sabha seat held by Amit Shah, is being positioned as a model constituency for the campaign. The drive is timed to coincide with the 2026 monsoon season, when survival rates for newly planted saplings are highest.

Stakeholders and Impact

BJP party workers and local residents of the Gandhinagar constituency have been the primary mobilisers on the ground, reflecting a pattern in which the central government routes large-scale public drives through party networks at the constituency level. Chief Minister Patel's post signals the state government's institutional backing for the effort, lending it administrative weight beyond a purely party-led exercise.

For ordinary Gujarat residents, the campaign frames tree plantation as a collective civic responsibility. Patel's closing call — 'Chalo, ropela dareka chhodni ghatadar vriksha banavavani samuhik javabdari uthavie' ('Let us take collective responsibility to make every planted sapling a shady tree') — frames environmental action as a community obligation rather than a government directive alone.

What's Next

The Chief Minister's statement signals that Gujarat intends to sustain and expand plantation activity beyond a single event, with a stated goal of making the state 'greener.' If the Gandhinagar model demonstrates measurable green-cover gains, it could be replicated in other Lok Sabha constituencies across the country, as Patel himself suggested.

Sapling survival monitoring through the remainder of the 2026 monsoon will be a practical test of whether the large-scale drive translates into lasting forest and urban-canopy gains — a metric that environmental advocates have consistently flagged as the weak link in India's afforestation campaigns.