10 mn jobs created in a year, politics of gloom & doom must stop now: Modi

In an interview with ANI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched upon various other important issues including the NRC, GST, women empowerment and India-Pakistan relations

Challenging the picture of gloom and doom created by the Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that more than 10 million jobs had been created in the past one year alone. The Opposition's claim of a weakening economy and a negative campaign over unemployment needed to stop now. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Modi also touched upon various other important issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Goods and Services Tax (GST), women empowerment and India-Pakistan relations.

He allayed concerns that the NRC would exclude Indian citizens and assured all opportunities would be given to people to get their concerns addressed. The Prime Minister also talked about the so-called Mahagathbandhan. On India-Pakistan relations, he hoped that Pakistan would under a new government work towards a safe, secure, stable and prosperous region, free from terror and violence. 

On the question of unemployment, Modi said when the economy was growing at the fastest rate in the world, it was obvious that jobs were being created. He said foreign direct investments (FDIs), growth in vehicle sales, and investment in infrastructure projects had translated into job creation. 


 

On GST, PM Modi said that the ‘know It all’ Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) refused to listen to the concerns of the various state governments and adopted a ‘my way or the highway’ approach, hence there was opposition to GST when the United Progressive Alliance was in power. The PM said that NDA's GST model was acceptable to all states, as the BJP-led alliance was sensitive to the concerns of the states. 


 

Taking a jibe on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said the people who had the fear of losing popular support and who lacked faith in our Institutions could use words like ‘civil war’, ‘blood bath’ and ‘Desh Ke Tukde Tukde'. He said Congress was playing politics on NRC.

He said that no country could progress if its women were not equal partners in the development process. "Going a step ahead of women development, we are working towards women-led development," he said. 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' led to significant improvement in the Child Sex Ratio in various parts of India. Mission Indradhanush and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana were ensuring good health of mothers and children, he added. 

On the matter of caste-based reservation, he said the objectives of our Constitution and dreams of Dr Babasaheb were still incomplete. It was the responsibility of every Indian to fulfil the dream, and reservation was an important tool to achieve that. 


 

Asked what were his thoughts on whether the hug by Rahul Gandhi was childish or not, he said it was up to the people to decide, and they could watch him winking to decide on that. 


 

PM Modi said that he recently congratulated Imran Khan on his victory in the Pakistan elections and hoped that country would work for a safe, secure, stable and prosperous region, free from terror and violence.