Addressing a rally in Surat on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted Congress for, what he said, “spreading negativity, hunting for opportunity in anarchy, making fun of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance)”.
Modi said, Congress is unable to win elections and is spreading anarchy and uncertainty, in its fight for existence. “Yeh Sab Ab Nahin Chalega (this won’t be allowed)”, the PM said.
Explaining, Modi said, the people of India have come out of the era of negativity during decades of Congress rule and they are now fully determined to achieve a Viksit, Atmanirbhar Bharat (developed, self-reliant India).
Modi’s message was clear. He said, if people march forward two steps, he was willing to walk three more steps. “For me, I do not like to stop and rest, but Congress does not want progress”, he said.
The PM said, the people of India trust BJP and this was evident from its electoral wins in Bihar, Bengal, Assam and other states. On the other hand, he said, people are angry with the Congress and because of this, the party had to change its chief minister in Karnataka.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been making negative remarks about the economy for the last several days. He told a party conclave of tribals that the nation is going to soon face an “economic tsunami” and “Modi’s Made in India dream has failed”.
Rahul Gandhi says, all is not well, both in economy and governance. He wants youths to come out on the streets, spread anarchy, so that Congress can sniff an opportunity.
This was the reason why Modi targeted Congress at his Surat rally. He mentioned how negativity was being spread, but people have shaken off the old era of negativity.
Modi was not speaking in a vacuum about ‘Atmanirbharta’. He visited the Larsen & Toubro plant in Hajira, set up jointly with DRDO, where Zorawar light battle tanks, K-9 Vajra self-propelled howitzers, anti-drone warfare weapon indigenous Tejastra and Teer UAVs were on display.
If economy is strong, who is misleading public?
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said the economy was strong and stable on all parameters, and the Middle East war will not adversely affect India’s growth rate. RBI revised its GDP growth rate projections from 6.9 to 6.6 per cent.
On Friday, the Centre announced a series of measures to attract foreign investment. These included changes in rules regarding investments by foreign individuals in Indian stocks, offering more investment options to FPIs (foreign portfolio investors) and making income on government bonds tax-free with retrospective effect from April 1.
These measures were taken because foreign portfolio investors had withdrawn nearly Rs 2.25 lakh crore from Indian stock exchanges in the last five months. FPIs normally invest money in stocks, mutual funds and bonds.
With the removal of income tax and capital gains tax for such investors, Indian economy is going to get a big inflow of foreign exchange in coming weeks.
There has been efforts to create scare in the minds of people vis-à-vis the economy.
American news agency Bloomberg News retracted a story published June 2 which said the RBI may have sold part of its gold reserves to protect India’s foreign exchange assets from mounting pressure triggered by Iran war.
The Bloomberg report had said, RBI likely sold nearly $12 billion worth of gold in the two weeks ending May 22, even as it purchased about $7.5 billion in foreign currency assets.
Bloomberg News retracted the story saying it was based on an incorrect analysis by Bloomberg Economics. It said, the analysis erroneously used same-day domestic gold prices to value RBI’s gold reserves. Using previous day’s London Bullion Market Association price shows that gold holdings were unchanged in May.
The Centre and RBI had rubbished the Bloomberg report as baseless. On the contrary, RBI said, with the prices of gold rising in international market, the value of India’s gold reserves has risen by 64 per cent.
RBI said, India’s foreign reserve has risen by $23 billion compared to last year and there was no need to sell gold.
The retraction of the baseless report by Bloomberg is evidence that some forces are trying to tarnish India’s image by publishing baseless news.
US President Donald Trump has admitted that Prime Minister Modi is a “tough leader” and it is difficult to strike trade deal with him.
Several times in recent months, efforts were made to create a narrative that Modi was “compromised” and is working under pressure from Trump. This narrative has now been nailed by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said in an interview that Modi was a strong and trusted leader and no pressure can ever work on him. Western countries should know this, he said.
Putin said, “India is one of the leading economies of the world that has showed the highest rate of economic growth. This is not something that comes out of the blue. This is result of the hard work that the government of India has been doing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”