- Wednesday, May 01, 2024
The leader said politicians in India are not known for keeping their words pledged to voters before elections and that need to change.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi is known to be a master in coining terms. Since he took over a decade ago, the leader has coined terms — be it one words, one-liners or acronyms — on several occasions that have struck a chord with his supporters.
More recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has popularised the term ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ (Modi’s guarantee) and even his party’s manifesto for the upcoming general elections released on April 14 has been named the same. Modi has in the past few months made promises to the countrymen calling them his guarantees and they include making India the third largest economy in the world under his probable third term starting after the 2024 elections.
The PM spoke over the term in a recent interview with Asian News International. There, the news agency’s editor, Smita Prakash, told him that while the term ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ has become very popular in the country, people are of the opinion that the candidates contesting the election are not important since the vote will go to Modi because he himself is the guarantee.
Read: Fates of a number of Modi ministers will be decided in phase 1 of election 2024
While disagreeing that the candidates are not important, Modi explained the ‘guarantee’ part in detail. He said politicians in India are not known for keeping the promises they make to voters before elections.
He also took an indirect dig at opposition leader Rahul Gandhi over a promise that he made at an election rally in the north-western state of Rajasthan in March, saying if elected to power, they would remove poverty in “one stroke” by transferring Rs 1 lakh into the account of those below the poverty line.
Read: Battle of manifestos ahead of India elections: Modi’s Guarantee vs Congress’s NYAY
“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 so much. Now 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 the people will raise questions,” Modi, who taunted Gandhi as a royal magician following his poverty eradication remark, said in the interview.
The PM continued to say that while political leadership is losing the trust factor, the politicians should remember India’s tradition of ‘Pran Jaye par Vachan na Jaye’ (Life may end but value of words must remain).
“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 I take ownership. Take the case of Article 370, it has been our party’s commitment. When it was my turn, I showed courage. I removed 370. And today, the fate of J&K has changed,” he said, pointing to the fact that the Hindu nationalist BJP kept its promise to remove the contentious provision of the Indian Constitution that gave Jammu and Kashmir a special status.
“Triple Talaq. So many things went through. Political leadership got scared. People said, why should we trust them? They say one thing and the other. But people started believing. Trust is a very big power. And in a country like India, I consider this trust as my responsibility. And that is why I say this again and again,” he added to drive home the point that by saying ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’, he was telling people that he is a leader who leaves no stone unturned to make his promises a reality.
Modi also said in the interview he had big plans once his government was re-elected to power for the third time.
“When I say that I have a very big plans in my mind, and I have very big plans, most governments have the habit of saying, we have done everything. I don’t believe that I have done everything. I have tried to do as much as possible. I have tried to go in the right direction,” Modi said.
“Still, there is a lot that I still have to do. Because I see how much my country needs. Every family’s dream, how will that dream come true? This is what I have in my heart. And that is why I say what has happened is a trailer. You liked it. But I want to do a lot more,” he added.
