Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that his governance model does not discriminate on the basis of religion or caste, while adding that there were attempts to sully his image after 2002 — remarks that came amid a raging debate over religious polarisation in the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. Speaking from the banks of the River Ganga in his Varanasi parliamentary constituency, he stressed that he celebrated Eid with his neighbours in his childhood and has a lot of Muslim friends. He also said that he believes the people of India will vote him to power for a third straight term, responding to a question on whether Muslims will back him in the ongoing elections.
“I have lived among Muslim families in childhood. I have a lot of Muslim friends. After 2002, efforts were made to tarnish my image,” PM Modi said while referring to communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the chief minister.
“Muslim families used to live in our neighbourhood. On Eid, we didn’t used to cook food in my house as the food used to come from the neighbouring Muslim households. On Muharram, we were taught to go under the taziya,” he added.
The Prime Minister said that after 2002, when his image got tainted, he carried out a survey to know the ground reality. “In Ahmedabad, there is a place called Manek Chowk where people go to eat in the evening. But during the day, all businessmen are Muslims and all buyers are Hindus. I sent some people to carry out a survey in that market. When one of them spoke against me, the shopkeeper stopped him and said ‘do not say a word against Modi. My kids are going to school because of Modi.’ Almost 90 per cent shop owners had the same thing to say,” PM Modi said.
He narrated another incident where, he said, that a woman came to him from the Muslim-dominated Juhapura area and congratulated him. “She appreciated me for my work on getting electricity in every house. I said but I have cut connections, how is it good. She said it’s good because people used to steal the government’s electricity and take money to give us electricity connections,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that a lot of such things have happened in his life but he doesn’t advertise all of this. “My mantra is ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas‘. I don’t work for vote bank. If something is wrong, I’ll say it’s wrong,” the PM said.
When asked why he called out Muslims for “having more children”, the Prime Minister said, “I’m shocked. Why do people assume I’m talking about Muslims when I talk about people having too many children? Even poor Hindu families have this issue. They are not being able to give their kids proper education. I have neither named Hindus nor Muslims. I’ve just made an appeal that have only many kids as you can take care of.”
When asked whether Muslims will vote for him this election, PM Modi, who filed his nomination from Varanasi on Tuesday for the Lok Sabha Polls in a massive show of strength, said, “I believe that the people of the country will vote for me. The day I start doing Hindu-Muslim, I won’t be fit to live in public life. I will not do Hindu-Muslim divide, this is my commitment.”
“If I give a house, I am talking about saturation, 100 per cent delivery. This means, suppose there are 200 houses in a village – irrespective of which society, which caste, which religion – if there are 60 lakh Indians in those 200 houses, then those 60 lakh people should get it. And when I say 100 per cent saturation, it means true social justice. It is true secularism. When there is no possibility of corruption. You know, even if I get it on Monday, I will get my number on the next Monday,” the Prime Minister added.
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