Small fraction of country's earning reached people’s pockets; PM Modi slams Congress in Germany

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at the Congress in Germany on Monday, emphasising that his BJP government was ensuring that the country’s people received the maximum benefits. “Who kaunsa panja tha jo 85 paise ghis leta tha (whose claw used to take away the 85 paise),” Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked as he addressed a crowd of over 1,600 Indian community members.

He was referring to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s words, which the Supreme Court has already highlighted, that only a little portion of the country’s earnings made it into people’s pockets. The BJP has used this statement multiple times to underline its success in ensuring that people benefit from the country’s progress.

The government has transferred more than 22 lakh crore to beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer in the last eight years, according to the prime minister. “The way technology is being integrated into governance in India demonstrates the new India’s political intent as well as democracy’s delivering capacity,” he said.

“New India no longer just thinks of a secure future, but takes risks, innovates, incubates. I remember, around 2014, there used to be only 200-400 startups in our country. Today there are more than 68 thousand start-ups, dozens of unicorns,” he added.

The prime minister continued his attack on the Congress, citing the government’s efforts to bring the states together. “The country used to be one, but there were two constitutions.” But why did it take them so long to come together? It has been seven decades since a single nation has enacted a single constitution. But now we’ve put it in place,” he remarked.

“Numerous changes that should have taken place with time, the speed with which it should have been done, the extensive manner in which it should have been done… we lagged behind due to one or the other reason,” he said. Before 2014, wherever you used to see, everything would be a work in progress. I’m not criticising anyone but if a road was constructed, then it’s dug up for electricity, then for water,” he said.