Into the election season and more often under attack for not delivering, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sought to show mirror to the enemy camp and claimed that his government has been able to replace UPA’s corruption with high growth rate and hesitation in governance with hope.
“After 2014, hesitations have been replaced by hope, obstacles have been replaced by optimism, and issues have been replaced by initiatives,” the Prime Minister said while addressing the fifth edition of the two-day Global Business Summit here.
“Today, there is a competition as to whether India will get 100 per cent sanitation first or 100 per cent electrification first. There is competition as to whether all habitations will be connected by road first or all homes will get gas connection first,” he said.
Modi said earlier regimes have been working on a competition who can do maximum corruption among themselves.
“There was competition on who can do maximum corruption, there was competition on who can do fastest corruption,” he said mocking at the erstwhile Congress-led regime, adding, “There was competition as to whether coal will get more money or spectrum. There was competition as to whether CWG would get more money or defence deals.”
“We all saw that and we also know who were the main players involved in this competition. I will leave it to you to decide which form of competition you would prefer,” he said taking a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi without taking any names.
But, the Prime Minister insisted that his government has only one competition in mind as to which state will attract more investment, as to which states will build houses for the poor fastest, as to which aspirational district will progress fastest.
“What happened in the past is not in our hands, but what will happen in the future is firmly in our hands,” he added.
Mr Modi said under the previous regime, the country economy was facing “total policy paralysis”, preventing it from reaching the level which it was worthy of. The global fraternity was worried about health of this member of fragile five club. There was a perception of surrender to existing circumstances.
Exuding confidence of creating India of 130 crore people, Modi said the country may have missed the bus during first three industrial revolutions but this time India would not only board the bus but also drive it.
“The extent and magnitude of our contribution will surprise the world. I am also confident that India may have missed the bus during the first three industrial revolutions, but this time, it is a bus India has not only boarded but will also drive.
“We often lament at missing the industrial revolutions in the past, but today it is a matter of pride that India is an active contributor to the 4th Industrial Revolution,” he said.
The Prime Minister said his government wanted to make India a ten trillion dollars economy, the third largest in the world. They wanted that the country should be a hub of countless startups and lead the global drive to renewable sources of energy, he added.
Enumerating achievements of the NDA government, he said today, India has been building 100 smart cities, ensuring rapid progress in over 100 aspirational districts, has become net exporter of electricity, made fastest train, IITs and AIIMS at a rapid pace and built toilets in all schools to fulfill aspirations and dreams of 130 crore Indians.
“We have moved away from the A,B,C mentality. A (is) for avoiding, B for burying and C for confusing. Instead of avoiding, we dealt with the issue; instead of burying it, we dug it out & communicated to the people; instead of confusing the system, we showed that a solution is possible,” he added.
Modi said post liberalisation of the economy, the country has registered average GDP growth of 7.4 per cent and average inflation of 4.5 per cent – which is the highest rate of growth and lowest rate of inflation witnessed during the period of any government.
Four years ago, no one would have believed that Rs 3 lakh crore would be returned by defaulting borrowers to creditors due to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, he maintained.
India’s ranking in the World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness index has gone up from 65 in 2013 to 40 in 2017. Number of FTAs to India increased by around 45 per cent, number of approved hotels went up by 50 per cent and Foreign Exchange Earnings in tourism also went up by 50 per cent.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitlley addressed the meet on Friday. (UNI)
PM Modi on a damage control mode, hits back at opposition
