New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made it clear that development will be the main issue for the BJP during the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. In an interview to a television channel, he urged the media not to make heroes out of rabble-rousers who are trying to polarise the state on communal lines.
Strongly disapproving of Rajya Sabha Subramanian Swamy questioning RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s “patriotism”, Mr Modi, without naming Mr Swamy, said that people must refrain from engaging in “publicity stunts”.
The Prime Minister said, “I believe Raghuram Rajan’s patriotism is no less than any of ours,” and added, “Whether it is in my party or not, still I think such things are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong.”
On the ongoing AgustaWestland helicopter scam, the Prime Minister, while refraining from mentioning the UPA, indicated that those involved in it appeared to be “quite wily and knew how to go about the deal”.
He, however, ruled out any political witch-hunt in the probe, saying that the investigating agencies will do a professional job and whatever names come up, “let’s see”. He did however, at the same time, say that a “sin” has been committed and those behind it have had a “big protective cover”. On the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Prime Minister said that vikas would be the focus as that is the only way the country can progress.
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“It’s my conviction, it’s my commitment. You must have seen during the 2014 elections that I fought elections on the issue of development. The new generation of the country only believes in development. I believe that the solution to all problems is in development,” he said.
Later in the interview he called himself an “apolitical Prime Minister” who, except during elections, never talks of politics.
On hotheads triggering communal tensions, he said that the media should not make heroes out of those people.
“Don’t make them heroes, they will stop. Why do you make them so big? I see such statements by people on TV, whose faces I haven’t even seen and they end up becoming spokesmen on TV,” he said.
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Conceding that “there have been a lot of problems” in Parliament because of disruptions, he blamed the Congress and said that a party which has been in power for 60 years and which knows the nitty-gritty cannot behave in a way a new Opposition party behaves.
“A party which hasn’t been in power or hasn’t seen anything could behave in this way. For example, we are in power now, and consider in 2040 we become the Opposition party. So, in 2040 we can’t have the same conduct as the one we had in 2009 or 2010,” he said.
When asked about the lack of growth in terms of jobs, the Prime Minister claimed that the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana has helped in providing money to around three crore people involved in small businesses.
“This will help shopkeepers to keep their businesses open till late hours, just like malls function all week without a break. Once small business persons start expanding their work, they will require more helping hands and this will create more jobs,” he said.
Responding to rising inflation and higher prices of edible items, like cereals, Mr Modi said that the pace of inflation has come down compared to the rate at which it grew during the previous government’s tenure.
“Also, the prevailing drought for two consecutive years led to price rise... As stocks of pulses were inadequate they had to be imported, so their prices went up,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that he has often been asked about the issue of excessive elections in the country, which keep taking place almost every year. He said that even senior leaders from other parties recently asked him to find out a way.
Asked whether the BJP will take a call on holding Assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections simultaneously, he said, “It is for the Election Commission to initiate a discussion on electoral reforms... the body is respected by all parties and it should take the lead in this.”
Airing his views on his initial experience of governance after becoming Prime Minister, Mr Modi said that he was new to Delhi and had never been an MP before, but has tried his best to deliver on most promises made during the Lok Sabha elections.
“For me, the Prime Minister’s post was not a padbhaar but karyabhaar. Delhi was new for me, and the government was new, yet in a small span of time the nation has grown in every aspect,” Mr Modi said.
He said that social inclusion has been the base of his economic policies. These are based on the principle of antyodaya, which was propagated by Deen Dayal Upadhyay and even Gandhi spoke about it.
