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Attacking the Opposition parties ahead of Assembly polls in five states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that he believes in taking everyone along in following the mantra of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and it is unfortunate to see that some leaders are exploiting the concept of diversity for vested interests.
In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Modi said, “I put my efforts to take everyone along and I believe it is the only path for the development of the nation. We believe in Unity in Diversity. But unfortunately, some leaders are now using the concept of diversity against each other for vested interests. We want unity among diversity.”
The prime minister’s statement came against the backdrop of Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, K Chandrashekar Rao, MK Stalin, Mehbooba Mufti and Mamata Banerjee alleging that BJP does not respect the diversity of the country.
On being asked that the Opposition claim that BJP does not understand regional aspirations, he said, “BJP is a party that believes in addressing regional aspirations for the development of the nation. I am the first Prime Minister in the country who has been a chief minister for a long time. I understand very well what are the aspirations and requirements of a State.”
He pointed out that the Opposition parties are indulging in evil designs of dividing the country but the people of the country are mature enough to not fall into their trap.
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View AllLaunching a scathing attack at Congress, the prime minister said, “In the last 50 years, they had done the work to only divide the country leading to separatism. But it is not the character of the country and its citizens.”
Describing his idea of promoting India’s diversity at the global level, he said that several foreign heads of countries now visit different states in India unlike the earlier practice of only restricting them to Delhi.
“Earlier visits of foreign guests were only restricted to Delhi. But I do not believe in that. I take them to various places. I took the Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tamil Nadu. I took the French President Emmanuel Macron to Uttar Pradesh. I took the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Karnataka even when there was a Congress government in the state,” he added.
The prime minister said that his priority is to promote every state of the country.
Answering the question that if regional aspirations are promoted then it will threaten the nation’s unity and encourage separatism, Modi said, “A nation like India where the social system is full of diversity if we manipulate the social justice, then it will harm our country. For this reason, the person from even from the most marginalized section of the society should get the opportunity for development. Just like the social justice in the society, the country cannot develop if any part lags behind. We should have a holistic and inclusive development. There should be a development for all.”
The prime minister said his government identified 110-115 “aspirational districts” that lagged behind in development parameters in cooperation with States.
“These districts are even below the average due to issues in governance and not the implementation of the schemes. Only one State objected to it. We put special focus on them. I personally talked to the district heads so that welfare schemes reach there fast. I urge the State governments to deploy young officers in those districts and not the retired or promoted IAS officers. I also urged the States to not change officers frequently and keep them there at least for three years. I have observed that all the States agreed to it and cooperated in the matter. Now, these aspirational districts are moving forward and some even crossed the State average in many parameters,” he said.
Mentioning his government’s slogan of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”, Modi said that in federalism, every unit has to be developed.
Leveraging on connectivity and regional aspirations, the prime minister said, “The optical fibre network should reach every village in the country. We are putting all our efforts into that. We want the development of the entire country. This is our method to address the regional aspirations.”
Modi further said that he would not speak on the issue of his security breach in Punjab’s Ferozepur as it could impact the Supreme Court-mandated investigation.
In the exclusive interview with ANI, Modi said, “I have maintained silence on the issue. The Supreme Court is looking into the matter seriously. Any statement that I make in this regard will impact the investigation, and it is not right.”
Expressing trust in the judiciary, Modi said, “Whatever it is, the Supreme Court’s Committee will bring the truth before the nation. We should wait till then.”
Recently, on 6 February, the five-member committee set up by the Supreme Court had reached the incident site at Ferozepur to probe the case for the first time.
The Supreme Court had set up the committee on 12 January, headed by retired top court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe into the security lapse.
After the security lapse of the Prime Minister last month, the Centre and the Punjab government had started separate investigations. Punjab formed a committee of retired Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Home Secretary Anurag Verma. While the Centre also formed an inquiry committee headed by the Security Secretary along with Intelligence Bureau and SPG officers. The Central Committee had already started the investigation. Then the matter reached the Supreme Court. The top court dismissed both the committees and a joint inquiry committee was formed under the leadership of retired Justice Indu Malhotra.
Rejecting Opposition allegations of government misusing probe agencies, Modi said that elections keep taking place in the country and these agencies work according to their norms.
Modi said corruption is adversely affecting the country and action by probe agencies in such cases adds to the national treasury for which the government should be lauded.
He also said the government does not interfere in the working of probe agencies. Hitting back at opposition parties who have in the past linked action by probe agencies with elections, he said these parties should agree for simultaneous polls and will then stop complaining.
“Corruption in India is affecting the country like termites. Haven’t people raised their voices against such people from time to time? If I do not do anything, will the people forgive me? Where ever the government gets information (about corruption) should it not take steps? And after this, if billions and trillions of rupees are coming to the treasury of the country, then I should be praised,” the prime minister said.
“Also, elections keep taking place in India, so should the government stop working? Decide for once that there will be an election once in five years and everyone will contest it together. All the states and the Centre will go for elections at the same time and we will save money. Then, you will never see ED or CBI,” he added.
Referring to probe agencies, he said that they are government organisations and work according to their norms.
“If there are elections in between, what can they do? They follow their timetable. Whenever they get information, they follow it up. The government does not have any role in it,” he said.
The prime minister also laid thrust on regional development and said no part of the country should lag behind.
“A nation like India where the social system is diversified if we manipulate social justice, then it will harm the country. For this reason, the person from even from the most marginalized section of the society should get the opportunity for development. Just like social justice in society, the country cannot develop if any part lags behind. We should have holistic and inclusive development. There should be development for all,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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