New Delhi: In what appeared to be a significant shift in the BJP’s stated position on FDI in multi-brand retail, the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the traders’ community not to “run away from global challenges, but face them”, and also promised to scrap all “unnecessary laws”, saying it appeared that the government believed that “all are thieves”.
Praising the “risk taking” ability of traders, which he said was “more than that of a soldier”, he said that the government must help them spread their influence across the globe.
Projecting himself as a leader who does not succumb to pressures, Mr Modi appeared to target Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his earlier remarks on “coalition compulsions”, saying that “alliances cannot be blamed for corruption”.
Mr Modi, who attended three separate events in New Delhi on Thursday, said the country could progress only if it was run “together” by the Prime Minister and chief ministers, which he said was the true spirit of federalism.
