News18's Rising India Summit Day 2: Rajnath Singh talks on India's challenges; Nirmala Sitharaman quashes charges of scam in Rafale deal
On the second day of News18’s Rising India Summit in New Delhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Singh stressed on the need for a collective effort in ‘rising India’
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On the second day of News18’s Rising India Summit in New Delhi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh Singh stressed on the need for a collective effort in ‘rising India’. News18
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Singh also said that the Centre was not only ready to protect India’s borders from inside the country but, also from “outside the country”, making an apparent reference to growing hostilities with Pakistan and the issue of security and international terrorism. News18
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On BJP’s defeat in the Gorakhpur bypolls, Singh gave a vague answer and said that they have come to know such things also happen. “This will not happen again,” he added. The Union minister also said that the government took pride in the fact that in the last four years of the Narendra Modi government, “not a single minister of our government was charged with corruption”. News18
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The home minister said that naxalism, which was a huge problem for India earlier, was no longer a challenge. Speaking on the Kashmir issue, he said that no power in the world can take Kashmir away from us. “Kashmir was ours, is ours and will be ours,” he said. News18
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On Rahul Gandhi’s remark that India was rising against BJP, Singh said, “Rahul Gandhi is our Opposition leader. He will keep saying things but time will tell against whom India is rising.” News18
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In the afternoon session titled ‘The Big Leap: Up and Ahead’, sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore revealed that in the next three or four months, the government is planning on rolling out a second phase of Khelo India Games. News18
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Rathore also fielded thorny questions about politics. On being asked about the TDP pulling out of the NDA, he said that the parties leaving us will join the bandwagon once they realise that we are winning the 2019 general elections. News18
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In the next session, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh spoke about the controversy around his last film Padmaavat, and the government’s reaction to it among other things. Singh said the protests against the film come close to fascism but he has moved on from the fiasco. News18
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Later, former foreign secretaries Nirupama Rao and Shyam Saran and India Foundation director Shaurya Doval expressed their views on ‘India and the World’. News18
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The former diplomats warned that the road ahead for India is going to be a tough one unless the country settles its issues with neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan and China. News18
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This session was followed by ‘States of the Union’ discussion in which Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma and Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed their views on governance in their respective states. News18
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Following this, Smriti Irani and CBFC chief Parsoon Joshi spoke on ‘Looking through the New India Lens’, in which Irani said that communication, today, has to be a 360-degree engagement. News18
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Talking about the several cuts made in the film Padmaavat, Joshi said that he was disappointed with all the fake news about 400 cuts in Padmaavat. There has to be some introspection from media, he said. News18
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This was followed by a one-on-one conversation with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, where he said that overconfidence resulted in BJP’s loss in recent state bypolls. News18
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This was followed by a Q&A session with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman. The defence minister vehemently denied allegations of a ‘scam’ in the procurement of Rafale fighter jets and hit out at the ‘convenience-based’ arguments on the issue. News18
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Referring to the situation on the Pakistan border, Sitharaman said that while incidents on the border have increased, the armed forces are also pushing them back. News18
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The last session of the summit consisted of one-on-one conversation with Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut which ranged from her stand on nepotism to being truly fearless, Ranaut shared her thoughts eloquently. News18
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The actress declared that she is a big Narendra Modi fan and that his victory is also the victory of democracy. She said she doesn’t believe in religion and has come to the conclusion that her only identity is the fact that she is Indian. News18
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