New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) The BJP and the opposition traded barbs on Sunday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in an interview to PTI ahead of the G20 summit, with the ruling party leaders hailing his vision for the country and INDIA bloc parties raising questions on “rising” prices and unemployment.
In the interview, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ model can be the guiding principle for the welfare of a world shifting from a GDP-centric approach to a human-centric one.
Irrespective of the size of the GDP, every voice matters, Modi told PTI in the exclusive interview conducted late last week at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence.
Prime Minister Modi said that India’s economic growth is a natural by-product of his nine-year-old government’s political stability, as he expressed optimism that it will be a developed nation by 2047 with “corruption, casteism and communalism having no place in our national life”.
His remarks evoked contrasting reactions from the ruling party and opposition leaders.
The BJP said that opposition parties are going to have sleepless nights with PM Modi laying the roadmap for the country’s progress in the next two-three decades while showing that his government’s report card is solid.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the prime minister transformed India’s demographic potential to make it a rising nation of 140 crore people.
The prime minister in the interview shared his vision for the country’s rise and laid out his plans for an India which is high on aspirations and resolve, he said.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said there is now no doubt in anyone’s mind that Modi’s leadership and India’s G20 presidency are big milestones in the country’s rise on the global stage.
PM Modi has unlocked the true spirit and energy of Indians and has put forward his vision that India can be a developed country by 2047, he said, referring to the prime minister’s interview to PTI.
This is in sharp contrast to the broken economy, devastated financial sector, corruption, high inflation and low growth bequeathed by the UPA government, Chandrasekhar said.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), however, hit out at the prime minister over his remarks and questioned the government’s track record in reining in unemployment and prices of essential commodities.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said it is unfortunate to “paint fantasies” about a distant future when the country is going through a “tough time” and asserted that it is “too early to speak about super power because too many of our people are still super poor”.
The remarks by Tharoor came after Prime Minister Modi, in the interview with PTI, said, “By 2047, I am sure that our country will be among the developed countries. Our economy will be even more inclusive and innovative. Our poor people will comprehensively win the battle against poverty. Health, education and social sector outcomes will be among the best in the world.”
Reacting to the prime minister’s vision 2047, Tharoor said, “It is too early to speak about (being) super power because too many of our people are still super poor. We still have to first address the real problems of the poor, the marginalized, the deprived.”
“The country is going through a tough time now in terms of high inflation, low employment, in fact unemployment is at record levels, and on top of that if people don’t have jobs how can they afford higher prices for all their essential commodities. In these circumstances to paint fantasies of a distant future that is 25 years from now is a bit unfortunate,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram told PTI in Kottayam.
“We should focus on what we can do for the people of today,” he said.
Attacking the prime minister, Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan said roads are being beautified in view of the upcoming G20 Summit but the India’s youth “are asking about employment”.
“People want their answers on scams and inflation,” she said.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh claimed that under PM Modi, unemployment reached its highest level in 42 years and prices of fuel and medicines increased considerably.
“Under him, the Agniveer scheme (for recruitment in the armed forces) was introduced and youngsters were betrayed. It was said that the prices of crops would be doubled. What happened? It was promised that black money would be brought back and every account would have Rs 15 lakh. No idea what happened to that. It was also said that everyone would be given a pucca house by August 15, 2022, but nothing happened,” Singh said.
The AAP leader alleged that “Modiji has only one slogan: Lie, make false promises, take votes from the people of this country and rule over them.”
“If you are distributing ration to 80 crore people, then you are somewhere accepting that the people have become weak under your regime,” he told PTI.
Congress leader Shobha Oza alleged that under the current government, the lives of common people have been made difficult due to inflation and unemployment.
“There have been atrocities on women, Dalits and tribals,” she alleged.
On Modi’s remarks about his government providing political stability, DMK leader TKS Elangovan said there is no political stability and equanimity in this country at present.
RJD MP and spokesperson Manoj Jha took a swipe at the BJP over Prime Minister Modi’s remarks in the interview about tackling the menace of fake news, saying the “BJP will collapse like a pack of cards if fake news is reined in”.
However, BJP leaders hailed the prime minister for his visionary leadership.
BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy hailed the prime minister’s take on democracy, diversity and demography being India’s strength.
Another party spokesperson, Anil Antony, said much more positive has happened in India in the last nine years than in 67 years since Independence.
BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, “Modi ji proved that he is an all-round batsman who is hitting fours and sixes and continues to do so while the opposition is getting out on duck.”
“The prime minister’s remarks reflect that ‘Jo kaha woh kiya, aur abhi aur karna hai’ (whatever he said, he delivered and more has to be done),” he added.
The prime minister’s interview to PTI is going to give a massive heartburn and sleepless nights to the opposition which is daydreaming about forming their government in 2024, Shergill said.
The prime minister’s response shows that his government’s report card is solid, he said.
BJP MP Subrat Pathak said, “PM Modi works with a vision for the next 25-50 years. When India completes 100 years of its independence in 2047, it will be a developed and self-reliant country.”
In the interview, Prime Minister Modi said his government’s decision to host G-20 events across the country is an investment in capacity-building among people, cities and institutions.
He also took a jibe at previous governments, saying they lacked confidence in people’s abilities to hold mega events outside the capital, in smaller places.
Modi said he had always had a great belief in people as he cited his organisational background to assert that he learnt a lot from many experiences during that phase of his life.
“Many positive impacts are coming out of India’s G20 Presidency. Some of them are very close to my heart,” Modi said in the 80-minute interview, focused on G20 and related issues, with three senior staff of PTI including Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi.
Modi said that while it is true G20 is an influential grouping in terms of its combined economic might, a GDP-centric view of the world is now changing to a human-centric one, and just as a new world order was seen after World War 2, a new world order is taking shape post-Covid.
“The shift to a human-centric approach has begun globally and we are playing the role of a catalyst. India’s G20 Presidency has also sowed the seeds of confidence in the countries of the so-called Third World,” he said.