Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday explainedthe $5-trillion economy road map for India, as presented in Union Budget 2019,to a vast audience in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. 

“Yesterday on TV and today in newspapers, you must haveheard and read about the goal of $ 5-trillion economy. It is very important foryou all to understand what $ 5-trillion economy means and how it is connectedto every Indian citizen,” said the Prime Minister while speaking at the BJPmembership drive at the city of temples.

PM Modi went on to deconstruct the goal in various sectors.“We are focusing on building a clean, healthy and beautiful India which willhelp our $5 trillion economy journey easier. The Ayushman Bharat Scheme haveproved to be very helpful. Nearly 50 crore people have benefitted from it,  getting free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh everyyear. Nearly 32 lakh poor patients have benefited so far," he said.

“If you saw the budget yesterday, you may have noticed,money allocations weren't spoken out loud. They were there, but what the speechspoke about was getting to $5 trillion. In the next five years, our farmerswill have a huge role,” he added.Amid the deepening water crisis in thecountry, the Prime Minister said, “More than the availability of water, thewastage and careless use of water are bigger problems. So be it use in homes orfor irrigation, we have to stop the wastage of water.”“There is a saying inEnglish 'size of the cake matters', meaning, the bigger the cake, bigger theslice people will get. That is why we have goal of a $5 trillion dollareconomy,” he said further exhorting BJP members to explain to the people theimportance of this goal.

“The country was also run earlier, and also progressed. Butnow, #New India is excited to 'run'. This dream is linked to us becoming a $5trillion economy,” said PM Modi.Attacking the Opposition for criticising the $5-trillion dollar economy dream, PM Modi said, "There are these people wecall 'professional pessimists'. These Professional pessimists are verydifferent from common man. If you go to a common man with a problem, he willhelp you find a solution. But if you go to them for a solution, they will turnit into a threat.”

Before addressing the gathering, PM Modi unveiled a statueof former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Varanasi airport.

The Prime Minister is on a day-long visit to hisparliamentary constituency to launch BJP`s membership drive. He was Shastri`ssons Anil and Sunil Shastri, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP WorkingPresident JP Nadda and state unit chief Mahendra Nath Pandey at Lal BahadurShastri International Airport.