Going to Israel as your representative, PM tells diamond barons in Surat

REACHING OUT to the Patidar community here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was going to Israel as “their representative” and sought better participation from members of the industry in making India the leader in the gems and jewellery sector.

“I am going to Israel in July. I am the first Indian Prime Minister to go to Israel. The diamond business in Surat has links with Israeli companies, I assure you that I am going there as your representative,” Modi said while inaugurating the Samast Patidar Arogya Trust-run Kiran Hospital at Katargam area in Surat. The Samast Patidar Arogya Trust is headed by Lalji Patel, a diamond baron who had bought Modi’s monogrammed suit in 2015.

“Enough of just diamond cutting and polishing. We need to make consumers across the globe interested in designed-inindia jewellery,” Modi said to the diamond barons. “You can ask for any help from my government (in achieving this goal).”

Citing examples of charity work done by diamond barons, he asked people to be generous and more involved in the development of villages in Saurashtra. Most diamond businessmen in Surat are from Saurashtra, having migrated over three decades ago.

Praising the ‘parivar bhaav’ of Surat, Modi said, “Wherever I go, sometimes I feel that people have distanced themselves from me. Everyone sees me as Pradhan Mantri (Prime Minister), but Surat is different from other places. Whenever I come to Surat, people don’t see me as PM but as a family member.”

He narrated how a family had offered him dinner and another breakfast of bhakri as is typical of Saurashtra. “It is not difficult to know what a Pradhan Mantri would eat or not eat,” he said.

While laying the foundation stone of the hospital, he had said he would inaugurate it, and therefore he was here, Modi said. “This Lalji Badshah (Lalji Patel) wanted to take a picture with me. I told him ‘I will let you only if you give me Rs 50 crore’... I used to work with you all with such authority.”