Crisis due to weak rulers, Modi tells NRIs

After being denied visa, Gujarat CM chooses virtual route to reach out to US

Saying India faced a ‘new crisis’ due to 'weak rulers', Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Monday told Indians resident in America that the Congress-led UPA government in India had lost the trust of the people.

Addressing, via video conferencing, non-resident Indians of the Gujarati community in 20 cities of the US, marking the ‘53rd Gujarat Day’, he said the state had, under his leadership, achieved new heights of development. And, that it did not matter if his detractors called him 'feku' (boaster or teller of tall tales), as the development work done in Gujarat spoke for itself.

“The biggest crisis the country is facing today is lack of trust and it is the need of the hour to rebuild this confidence of the people. This breach of trust is due to the actions of people occupying high office,” Modi told the gathering. The development in Gujarat was possible because people have trust in each other, he added.

“The country is facing a new crisis and that's what happens when the rulers are weak, we have seen in the past month,” Modi said, referring to the various allegations of corruption against UPA ministers.

“They (UPA) make claims of a strong government but still there are worries over safety of women. Few have seen the corruption we are seeing now. They have not even left coal,” said Modi. He said the optimism generated during the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA regime had disappeared.

He was equally scathing on foreign policy. “China withdraws its forces from our territory but why are Indian forces withdrawing from Indian territory? Why did we retreat?...soldiers are beheaded at the border but the Prime Minister of the nation that beheads is fed chicken biryani.” And: “We (Gujarat) have changed the nature of development. I know people will start saying things even after this speech. The ‘feku’ industry people will get active but the fact is, this is the path that will take Gujarat to greater heights in the coming years.”

He also came down heavily on the party, for saying he was taking credit for all the development in Gujarat. “We have never said there was nothing before Modi came. There were things. Compare the work done in 40 years with the work done in the last 12 years. We have taken development to new heights, for the well being of every person. And, I say it again, Narendra Modi has not done it. The credit goes to six crore people of Gujarat and those who have affection for the state,” he declared.

Modi had been denied a visa by the US government in 2005.In December 2012, a group of 25 American lawmakers had urged the US Secretary of State to continue doing so, stating his government had not adequately pursued justice for the 2002 riot victims in Gujarat.