Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, 18 June 2026, invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cultural-development philosophy, saying the #VirasatBhiVikasBhi vision has 'redefined India's growth story' by treating heritage not as a relic to be silenced but as a living force to be celebrated. The post, marking 12 years of the initiative, cited the revival of Ayodhya, Kedarnath, Buddhist relics, and expanded UNESCO recognition as evidence of a civilisational reset under the current government.

Context

Gadkari's post arrives as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party marks over a decade of the Modi government's cultural and infrastructure agenda. The hashtag #12YearsOfVikasBhiVirasatBhi signals a coordinated party-wide communication exercise, with senior leaders across ministries amplifying the government's record on heritage and development simultaneously. Gadkari, a senior BJP leader and former national president of the party, carries particular weight in such messaging given his long organisational history.

The phrase 'faith, culture, and development now move together' encapsulates the government's stated position that religious and historical sites are engines of employment and tourism, not merely objects of reverence. The minister underlined that 'India's civilisational pride is being restored with purpose.'

Policy Backdrop

The policy lineage stretches to 2014-15, when the PRASAD scheme (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) was launched to upgrade infrastructure at major pilgrimage centres. Reconstruction of the Kedarnath temple township — devastated in the 2013 Uttarakhand floods — became an early flagship project, combining spiritual restoration with road and accommodation infrastructure.

The 2019 Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya title dispute cleared the path for construction of the Ram Temple and an associated urban redevelopment programme, which the government has since positioned as a model for heritage-led economic growth. Separately, India stepped up artefact repatriation negotiations with the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries from 2014 onward, recovering stolen antiquities and returning them to museums and temples.

On the international stage, the government has actively pursued additional UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions, seeking to raise India's profile in global cultural diplomacy alongside bilateral Buddhist-relic exchanges with neighbouring countries.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the Virasat Bhi Vikas Bhi approach are pilgrims and domestic tourists, local communities near heritage sites, and craftspeople and hospitality workers whose livelihoods depend on footfall at religious destinations. Heritage conservation experts have noted that the coupling of spiritual tourism with modern infrastructure can expand access but also raises questions about the pace and scale of construction near sensitive archaeological zones.

For the broader electorate, the messaging serves to consolidate the government's identity as a custodian of India's civilisational continuity — a theme that has featured prominently in successive election campaigns. The emphasis on 'strengthening identity, creating livelihoods, and shaping a future rooted deeply in our timeless past' frames cultural policy as inseparable from economic aspiration.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the outcomes of pending UNESCO nominations and to official tourism and employment data from completed projects in Ayodhya and Kedarnath, which will provide measurable benchmarks for the government's claims. As the BJP's communication machine continues its 12-year retrospective, ministers across portfolios are expected to link their sectoral achievements to the overarching Virasat Bhi Vikas Bhi narrative in the weeks ahead. Whether the data from heritage-tourism corridors substantiates the livelihood promises will shape how the policy is assessed beyond the political messaging cycle.