Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Khadi or the homespun can become a source of inspiration for achieving the dream of "developed and Atmanirbhar Bharat." Once a symbol of self-respect, Khadi was treated as an inferior product after Independence, he rued.?

The prime minister was speaking during `Khadi Utsav' (Khadi festival) on Sabarmati Riverfront here, organized by the Union government as part of `Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

A new record was created on Saturday ?during the 75th anniversary of India's Independence as 7,500 women spun `charkha' (spinning wheel) together at the event, the prime minister noted.

“History has seen that a thread of khadi became a source of inspiration for the freedom struggle and broke the chains of slavery. In the same way a thread of Khadi can be a source of inspiration to fulfil the pledge of making India a developed nation, to achieve the dream of ?Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India),” he said.?

Mahatma Gandhi turned Khadi into a symbol of the country's self-respect during the freedom struggle, he said. "The same Khadi was treated as an inferior product after Independence. Because of this, Khadi and the village industry associated with Khadi was destroyed and it affected our weavers,” Modi said.?

(With PTI Inputs)