‘We respect diversity, the Oppn does not’

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to ANI on BJP’s vision for 2047, Ram temple, electoral bonds, and other key issues. Edited excerpts from the interview

On Govt vs Oppn

Ihave a vision of 25 years and I have done a lot of work in that. And it is not like I am doing it today. Maybe when I was in Gujarat, I used to think in that direction. Now look at the 2024 elections. So there is an opportunity in front of the country that there is a model of Congress government and the BJP government. They have worked for 5-6 decades and I have only worked for 10 years. Compare these in any field. Even if there are some shortcomings, there will be no shortcomings in our efforts.

Secondly, in 10 years, at least two years, we lost to the battle with Covid. And there were many after-effects. Even then, today, if we compare the country in terms of speed, scale; if we talk about all-encompassing development, then let’s talk about that. On every parameter, you can see a model. Yes, we will walk on this path with so much speed, and I have to increase the speed — in the next term, I have to increase the speed as well as the scale. That is my goal.

Unfortunately, the political culture of the past was on how to make the family strong, how to not let anyone take away the roots of the family. Whereas, I am working with the aim of making the country strong. My government is working with that aim. So in this election, we have taken our track record and they have brought their track record.

On Vision 2047

When I say that I have big plans, no one must be scared. I don’t take a decision to scare or run over anyone. I take decisions for the wholesome development of the nation. For the development of the people, the aspirations of our youth. I don’t want to delay those things. Additionally, governments always say we have done everything, I don’t believe I have done everything. I have tried to do everything in the right direction, yet there is so much I need to do, because I see that my country has so many needs. Every family’s dream — how will that come true? This is what I have in my heart. And that is why I say what has happened is a trailer. I want to do a lot more.

I have been working on 2047 for the past two years. And for that, I asked for opinions and suggestions from people across the country. I have taken suggestions of more than 15 lakh people on how they want to see India in the coming 25 years. And I contacted all the universities. I contacted different NGOs. And 15-20 lakh people gave their inputs. I took the help of AI and classified it subject-wise. I did a lot of technology work.

Secondly, I want the document that I am making to not be the vision only of Modi. The thoughts of those 15-20 lakh people are included in it. Which means the entire country has ownership of it. What I am doing is simply making it ready as a document.

As soon as the elections are over, it will be sent to the states... then I will hold a meeting of the chief ministers and Niti Aayog. And then a final document will be made.

On Modi ki guarantee

As far as the question of guarantee is concerned, today I feel that politicians are not true to their word. In a way, it seems that... you can say anything you want. You don’t have any responsibility. Now you must have seen these days... a politician’s old videos... ...are going around. And his one statement is so contradictory to the other. Now people see it together and say... this man used to fool us. I heard a politician’s speech. He said, ‘I will remove poverty in a jiffy’. Now those who got to rule 5-6 decades, when they say today that I will remove poverty in a jiffy, then people will raise questions.

So I feel that political leadership is becoming questionable. In such a situation, we should remember that we have a tradition of ‘Pran Jaye par Vachan na Jaye’. I believe that politicians should take ownership. They should take responsibility. What I am saying is my responsibility. And I have given the guarantee from that. I also commit and take ownership. When you take ownership, it develops trust. Take the case of Article 370; it has been our party’s commitment. We have been fighting to remove it, when it was my turn, I showed courage. I removed 370. And today, the fate of J&K has changed.

On Ram Mandir

When India was divided, then during the time of Partition, they (the Congress) could have decided to do so and so (about the temple dispute). That was not done. Why? Because this was like a weapon in their hands for vote bank politics. They then fanned the flames again and again.

Even when the case was going on in the court, they tried to delay the judgment. Why did they do this? Because for them, it was a political weapon. It was a way to appease a vote bank. Now what happened? Ram Mandir has been built, no untoward incidents happened and that issue has gone out of their hands.

Secondly, their nature. Look at the incidents from the Somnath Mandir till now. These are the core beliefs of our country. What was the problem with Somnath Mandir? Dr Rajendra Babu wanted to go. There was no Jana Sangh, no BJP. But they refused to let him go.

For us, I believe that this (the temple) is neither a political issue, nor should it be, and nor will it ever be. For us, this is a matter of tremendous faith. And this is not a relationship between Lord Ram and me. It has been for thousands of years and it is in many countries.

On southern push

Iwould say that five generations of our party from the Jana Sangh onwards have been working here. So continuous work has been going on. When people were disappointed with the Congress, they went towards the regional parties. Now people are disappointed with these parties. In this atmosphere of disappointment, they saw the model of the BJP government in Delhi. They saw the model of the BJP government in other states in India. The Tamils who live across the country, they went to their homes and said that this is happening in the state where we live. So people naturally started to compare that these people are doing good work.

Like I did with the Tamil Kashi Sangam. In Tamil Nadu, the people of the DMK used to make fun of us calling us Panipuri wallahs. But when the people of Tamil Nadu came to the Kashi Sangam and saw the form of Kashi, they said, this is not what we used to hear. This caused a change of thinking. And because of that, a lot of anger has arisen against the DMK. That anger is diverting towards the BJP in a positive way.

On diversity

The first thing is that India is very beautiful. India is a country full of diversity. There is a desert here, there is a sea here, there is the Himalayas here, there is the Sahyadri here, there is the Ganga here and there is the Cauvery too. So seeing India in pieces is a misinterpretation of India. If it was the same feeling, if you see in India, where are the maximum villages associated with the name of Lord Ram, then it is Tamil Nadu. There are so many village names that must have Ram in it. Now how can you call it separate? But there is a diversity in India. Nagaland will not be like Punjabi. Gujarati will not be the same as Kashmiri. So diversity is our strength. We should celebrate diversity. We have such a quality of India that every flower in the bouquet of India blossoms. This should happen.

I have a thinking and when I wear clothes from different states, they (the Opposition) are the ones who have a problem. They want to put the country in a singular structure. We worship diversity, and we celebrate diversity. And I tell everyone, to become a doctor, to become an engineer, why can’t you become one in your mother tongue? When I talk about becoming a doctor or engineer in the mother tongue, what does it mean? I am celebrating the mother tongue.

On federalism

Regional aspirations should be given the most attention. This is the philosophy of my party. If you reject the regional aspirations, you can’t make the dream of a developed India come true. I have been the chief minister in Gujarat for a long time. And I am fortunate that I am the first Prime Minister in the country who has such a great experience of being the CM of the state.

So, as a CM, what are the expectations from the central government? What are the problems faced by the central government? I have experienced it well. I have understood it well. And that is why I will never want that there is any obstacle in the development of my country. If I can remove that obstacle and I can help them in that, I will do it.

Secondly, when I was in Gujarat, even then I had a mantra. The government here was of UPA. Even then I had a mantra, for the development of India, Gujarat should be developed. I will develop Gujarat. Why? Because I want to develop my country.

Now look at corona. I have met the CMs so many times, maybe 20-25 times, and we used to make joint decisions on everything. So we came together and we managed to win the war against corona. And I say this publicly, that in the fight against corona, India’s success is the same as that of all the states. I recognise this. And that is why I have always said that we have to take the country forward. Then we need to be competitive, cooperative federalism. We should have a competition, a strong competition for development.

See G20. I could have hosted G20 in Delhi. I didn’t do that. I did a G20 summit in every state of India. Because in every state, G20 got the most opportunities. People should get the opportunity to see that state. The state should get a global platform for its exposure. Why? Because for me every corner of my country is my country.

On the G20 success

When we work for the global good, there are no personal ifs and buts; you can take the world on board. And my attempt was that. Tell me how G8 and G20 were born — the issues for which these were formed we should never divert from those issues. And in that, everyone was convinced by me. For some people, I needed to talk personally. I did that too. Secondly, my intention was that I will not bring the resolution on the last day, in the last session. I will do it so soon that people will be surprised. And so I completed the declaration work on the second day, on the first day itself. So that was my strategy. And I am happy that strategy worked. We have worked on IMEC (economic corridor), which is going to be a big game changer like the Silk Route was a game changer.

On foreign policy

We have a policy from day one. One, Neighbour First. Second, Act East. In the eastern part of ASEAN, we have taken the Act East policy. Here, Neighbourhood First. But today, even if there is a country hundreds of miles away, they feel that we have some benefit in the progress of India. Today, the neighbours are the happiest because India is one of their best friends. Like in the era of Covid, there is no neighbouring country that we have not helped. Natural calamity, there is no country — like Nepal, where there was an earthquake, we were the first responders. There was a huge crisis in Sri Lanka; during that crisis, we have done the most work to get them out of trouble. They recognise it publicly.

On Ukraine student rescue

If you have seen an interview with Sushma Swaraj, you will see how we brought the people of India from Yemen. I spoke to the Saudi King and told him that I want to bring people from Yemen there... We brought about 5000 people from Yemen.

It was the same in Ukraine. I have a similar relationship with Russia. I have been very friendly with both the presidents. I can publicly say to President Putin that this is not the time for war. I can also say publicly to Ukraine that we should follow the path of dialogue.

And this is because, I have credibility. And when I said that so many people from India, our youths are trapped. And I need your help. And what can I do for you? Then I said, I have arranged so much. You help me so much. They helped. And the strength of the Indian flag was so much that even a foreigner used to hold the Indian flag in his hand. So there was a place for him. My flag became my guarantee.

On electoral bonds

There has been a discussion in our country for a long time that black money in elections is a very big and dangerous game. The country’s elections should do something to get rid of black money. There are costs in elections. No one can refuse that. My party also does this. All parties do it. Candidates also do this. And money has to be taken from people. All parties agree.

I wanted to try something. How can our elections be free from this black money? How can there be transparency? I had an honest and pure thought. We were looking for a way. We found a small way. That the same was an absolute route we didn’t claim it even at that time. How did we work? For example, we finished the notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000. These notes were used in large quantities during the elections. Why? So that the black money gets finished. There was a ruling that political parties can take cash up to Rs 20,000. I changed the rules... Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,500. Why? Because I didn’t want this to be a cash business. Then I said that the electoral bond is for donors who want to maintain secrecy.

Earlier, in the BJP, we decided to take money from cheques. So all the businessmen came to us and said, sir, we can’t give money through cheques. We said, why can’t you give? They said if we give with cheque then we will have to write. If we write, then the government will see that we have given so much money to the Opposition. So they will trouble us. They said, we are ready to give money but not through cheques. I remember during the elections in the 1990s, we had a lot of problems. We didn’t have money. And we had a rule that we will take with cheque. They were ready to give, but they didn’t have the courage to do so.

This is the success story of electoral bonds. If there were no electoral bonds, then how are you getting a trail of money. Which company gave it? How did they give it? Where did they give it? Now, it could be a matter of good or bad. The concern I have is that I never say that there is no shortcoming in decisionmaking. In decision-making, we learn and improve. It is very possible to improve in this too. But today we have completely pushed the country towards black money. And that is why I say, everyone will regret it. When they will think honestly, everyone will regret it. Now see, the speciality of the electoral bond, see how the lie is going on. In total, 3,000 companies in the country have given electoral bonds. Out of those 3,000, 26 companies are those on which investigation has been done. They say, ED-VD etc. There are 3,000 donors out of which only 26 were being investigated and out of those there were 16 on which there were raids.

On federal agencies

None of the laws in this have been made by my government. Whether it’s ED, CBI or the Election Commission. On top of that, we have improved the laws in the Election Commission.

If the Election Commission is formed today, then the Opposition is also in it. Earlier, the Prime Minister used to sign a file and form the Election Commission. And those who were close to their ‘families’, such people became election commissioners. After leaving from there, they became members of the Rajya Sabha, ministers of their government. Such election commissioners were chosen who became Congress candidates afterwards. And that is why we cannot play at that level... we want to go on the right path, we don’t want to go on the wrong path.

There is fear that comes with sin. What fear does an honest person have? They had even put my home minister in jail when I was CM.

Now on ED: the country should understand that political leaders are involved in only 3% of ED cases and 97% of cases are registered against the ones who do not belong to the politics. They are either drug mafia, officers who are involved in corruption, against some of the officers who have created benami assets. Shouldn’t we let ED work independently like it is supposed to?

On Elon Musk, investment

Basically, he is a supporter of India. I went to see his factory in 2015. He was out somewhere and returned especially after cancelling all his work. He showed me everything in his factory. And I understood his vision.

I went there just now and met him again. And now he is about to come to India. See, in India, in the last 10 years, there is investment from across the world, in every region. Now our EV market, the electric vehicle market is so big. You will be surprised to know that how much change has come that people are unable to fathom.

In 2014-15, in our country, there were 2000 electric vehicles sold. In 2014-15. In 2023-24, 12 lakh electric vehicles have been sold. Not 2,000, but 12 lakhs. This means a network of such a big charging station has been created. It has helped the environment and we have made policies regarding this. We’ve told the world that India is moving fast on EVs. If you want to do manufacturing, you should come. Come. Not just that. I want investment to come in India. There should be the smell of our soil so that our youth in the country will get jobs

You can see the example of Google, Samsung came here. Apple came here in a very big way. In Vadodara, work started for the manufacturing of the aircraft. For the semiconductor, a very good statement of a leader of Taiwan has also come. That means we are in every field. We want people to transfer technology.

On taxpayers

There should really be respect for taxpayers. If the will keep abusing every taxpayer then how will the country run? I don’t understand what kind of thinking this is.

In the last 10 years, the number of ITR file holders has increased two times. Earlier, less than 4 crore people used to file ITR. Today more than 8 crore people are filing ITR.

Tax collection has increased three times. That means earlier the net tax collection used to be 11 lakh crores. Today the net tax collection is 34 lakh crore. Why is this happening? It is because of trust. that the money he is giving is being used in the right place. For the sake of development, not for theft and looting. That is why he has come to give because of his faith.

Whatever dreams I have to fulfil, the money for that comes from what the taxpayer gives me. And I believe that for progress, the number of taxpayers should increase and the burden of the taxpayers should be reduced.

One nation, one election

One nation one election is our commitment. We have spoken in the parliament as well. We have also made a committee. The committee report has also come. So in terms of one nation one election, many people have come on board... And the country will benefit a lot if we are able to implement this report.