Bangalore, April 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said cooking gas subsidy being surrendered by consumers would not go into the country's treasury.

Instead, he said, the money would be used to provide cooking gas to the homes of very poor people who otherwise cook over firewood.

Addressing a party rally that coincided with the BJP national executive meeting under way here, Modi exhorted well-off consumers to give up their cooking gas subsidy and help the poor.

"Lal Bahadur Shastri showed us how people could forsake a meal to feed the needy. Likewise I would want you to do something for the poor," he said, addressing the rally at the National College Grounds in Basavangudi, a largely middle-class locality in the older part of the city.

During the food crisis in the mid-1960s, Shastri's call to skip a meal a week was well taken across the nation.

"Just imagine how many poor people would cook their food over gas without burning firewood if a crore consumers surrendered their subsidies," Modi told the 20,000-odd party workers and supporters.

"Around two lakh consumers have already surrendered their subsidies, totalling nearly Rs 100 crore," the Prime Minister said, urging the well-off to set an example for others in their families or workplace to follow.

Modi did not say if he was planning to give cooking gas for free to the poor, or was planning to increase the subsidy.

"There will be no better blessing than this for you (those who surrender the subsidy)," he said, as party president Amit Shah, L.K. Advani and most BJP chief ministers watched on stage.

Earlier in the 50-minute speech, Modi dwelt on his government's resolve to provide mobile-based governance. "In a country where there are more mobile phones than the population, it's easy for mobile governance to work," he said.

"Mobile governance leads to good governance, which brings more transparency, more jobs and entrepreneurship. India will move to a new kind of economy with the application of this kind of technology," he said, crediting Bangalore for taking the country to the global map of information technology.

Technology must help change the farm sector as well, he said. "With the help of technology, we need to change the way our farmers work, cultivate, live and move around with better roads, irrigation facilities, 24x7 power supply and even housing for farm labourers."

The Prime Minister took a swipe at the Congress, claiming "our farmers were meted out gross injustice over 70 years". "I have seen farmers who sell a portion of their land holding to bribe some government official to get their sons the job of a driver or a peon," he said.

Besides protecting farmers from bankruptcy and loan traps, Modi promised his government would test soil across farms in every state. "We will issue soil health cards to farmers after testing the soil that becomes unfit due to excessive and unscientific use of chemical fertilisers."

Apart from helping farmers replenish soil, the government would also encourage them to protect cattle heads.

The Prime Minister used the platform to launch his Chaturang-Kranti (four-coloured revolution) based on the national flag.

"Green represents an entirely new green revolution covering every state. White will be the 'milk revolution' across the nation. Saffron would represent revolution in energy - solar, wind, nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric. The fourth one is blue to signify oceanic activities like petroleum and natural gas, fisheries and water transport," he said, without giving details.