Slamming those questioning his government’s performance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his two-year dispensation had initiated over 700 schemes and even if some tasks remain undone, ‘I will not let the nation go on the wrong path’.
Addressing a public meeting here as part of Vikas Parv (development festival) on completion of two years of his government, he asserted that he would ‘never go on the path of sins’ as he charged that the previous government had ‘yielded’ to pressure from various lobbies, including diesel and petrol ones.
Slamming the critics who ‘started questioning his work’ even when he had not seen his office properly, Modi said his government’s programmes are mostly for the benefit of farmers and poor people, besides ending the role of middlemen, including in jobs.
“My government had not completed even one week in office and some people started questioning its work. We were asked to give account. There are some people in this country who talk of democracy but don't believe in the government elected by the people. They cannot digest (the National Democratic Alliance coming to power). They wonder from where I came. I have come from this land, from among you,” he said.
“Whatever I have done during the last two years has been for the welfare of the people only. Some people say Modi does not do big things,” he said.
Accusing the previous government of ‘extending big favours’ to a few people, Modi asked, “Should I commit also the same sin? Should I go on the wrong path? When you have blessed me, there is no need for me to go on that path of sin. Even if one or two things remain undone, I will not let the nation go on the wrong path.”
His remarks come against the backdrop of continuous criticism and questioning by the Congress and some other parties over his government’s performance.
He enlisted a number of programmes initiated in various fields and said a ‘change’ can be felt in the country and that he wanted to take the country to new heights for which he required people’s support.
He mentioned various schemes for the farmers like Crop Insurance and Irrigation scheme, talked about programmes like opening of bank accounts for the poor and insurance schemes for them as well as his endeavour to give liquefied petroleum gas connections to five crore poor people over the next three years.
He also talked about his government’s effort to ensure early payment of dues by sugar mills to sugarcane farmers and launch of e-platform to enable farmers to sell their produce online anywhere in the country for a better price.
The prime minister also spoke about scrapping of about 1,200 ‘obsolete’ laws and doing away with the requirement of interview for Class III and IV government jobs.
“Middlemen have been stopped from getting richer. This is the change we have brought in. We have done the work of bringing more than 700 schemes in past two years,” the PM said.
Asserting that his government has taken several measures for people welfare, he said, “My government has taken the task of Congress-free India. In fact, I would say that people have taken up this task. We have taken up the task of removing middlemen. We do not need middlemen anymore.”
Saying that ‘the game of middlemen has looted this country’, Modi underscored his resolve to check such agents involved in majority of central and state government works in exchange of money.
He said previous governments have only blown the trumpet of their work.
“They would say we have brought in this law and that law. This government has repealed more than 1,200 archaic laws which were there for past 60 years.
“I am surprised that a citizen was bearing the brunt of so many laws. These 1,200 laws some of them are 100 to 150 years old. We have repealed them all,” he said.
Talking about making of ethanol from sugarcane, he said the idea was already there but the previous government ‘yielded’ to pressure from petrol and diesel lobbies which ‘I refused to do’.
He said the government would raise the limit of Ethanol mix in petrol and diesel from the current level of five per cent. In some foreign countries, it is up to 30 per cent.
“I want to increase it further (the limit to mix Ethanol in fuel),” the PM said, adding that it will help the farmers in earning more money and will not harm the environment.
He said he also dreams of doubling farmers' income by 2022, when nation completes 75 years of independence, and sought the cooperation of the agriculture community in this regard.
Modi said his government has set up a target of providing LPG connection to five crore poor families who use wood to cook food, harming their health.
The PM also asked people to assess his government and its work. “I have come to you for two works. First you have to assess my work and secondly you have to bless me,” he said.
