On the occasion of completion of his two decades in electoral politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an interview to journalist PR Ramesh from the Open magazine. PM Modi talked about an array of issues, starting from his reluctance to join electoral politics to governance.

On being asked about his ‘accidental’ entry to the political arena, the Indian Prime Minister remarked, “In a way, you are right…let alone reluctance to join electoral politics, I had nothing to do with the political domain itself. My surroundings, my inner world, my philosophy—these were very different. Right from my younger days, my bent was spiritual. The tenet of ‘Jan Seva Hi Prabhu Seva’ (Serving people is akin to serving the divine), which was propounded by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda always inspired me. It became a driving force in whatever I did.”

PM Modi emphasised that he had no remote connection to politics and only joined after being forced by circumstances and friends. “Twenty years ago, the circumstances became such that I had to enter a completely unchartered territory of heading an administration. And this happened in 2001, when Gujarat was adversely affected by one of the most devastating earthquakes our nation has seen. Having closely seen the deep trouble people were in, I had no time or opportunity to even ponder what the new turn in my life meant. I immediately got into relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding Gujarat,” he remarked.

PM Modi on India’s ‘satisfying’ performance at Tokyo Olympics

On being asked to recount a satisfying moment in his career, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was pleased with the performance of the Indian athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He stated, “Tokyo 2020 has been India’s finest so far. Yet, naturally, there were several athletes who did not win medals. When I met them, they were lamenting their inability to win medals. But each of them only had praise for the efforts of our nation in supporting them in their training, facilities, and other kinds of assistance.”

The Indian government had supported the athletes through the TOPS programme. PM Modi remarked, “Earlier, our sportspersons used to worry about lack of facilities, support, etcetera. These were things they could not do anything about. But now they feel that part is sorted and their whole focus is on things they can control and their thirst for a medal has taken centre stage. They had a sense of satisfaction that the county has supported them and the determination to do something extraordinary for the nation and bring home more medals in the times to come. This change is satisfying.”

The Indian Prime Minister also underlined how sportsmen and athletes from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are now competing in the playgrounds. “Like everyone thought that sport was restricted to a certain class of society, but we have extremely talented people in poor and backward regions. If we reach them, sport can go a long way in the country and results have shown that he concluded.

On the existence of a few criticis and pre-conceived notion

PM Modi noted that opponents tend to judge him and his party based on their pre-conceived mindset. While highlighting that it took courage to accept one’s mistake, he emphasised, “And it is because of this that one forms notions about a person even without a meeting, knowing or understanding him. And even if they meet you in person and observe something different (as compared to their notion), they will still not accept it just to feed their ego. This is a natural tendency.” PM Modi cited his tenure as Chief Minister as an example to substantiate his point.

While dismissing claims that he is abhorrent to criticism, PM Modi opined, “I feel, and this is my conviction, that for my own healthy development, I attach big importance to criticism. I, with an honest mind, respect critics a lot. But, unfortunately, the number of critics is very few. Mostly, people only level allegations, the people who play games about perception are more in number. And the reason for this is that, for criticism, one has to do a lot of hard work, research and, in today’s fast-paced world, maybe people don’t have time. So sometimes, I miss critics.”

Pro-Poor and pro-business policies need not be mutually exclusive: PM Modi

On being asked about his pro-poor and pro-business policies, PM Modi emphasised that the two need not be mutually exclusive. “Our country is not a developed country yet, we are still grappling with poverty. Every person in society should get opportunities according to his needs and ability…The poor need one type of opportunity and wealth creators need another type of opportunity. When the Government believes in ‘Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya’, then its approach can never be unidirectional; rather it becomes multidirectional,” he said.

The Indian Prime Minister added, “The things in which you see a contradiction, I see an inter-linkage. Why are pro-poor and pro-business mutually exclusive categories? Why should we divide policies into one or the other of these buckets? According to me, policymaking should be pro-people. By creating these artificial categories, you are missing out on interdependence in society. Business and people are not working with opposing objectives.”

Criticism of the Congress party

The Indian Prime Minister lambasted the Congress party for not differentiating between ‘political’ and ‘economic thought’. He lamented, “The politics of our country is such that till now, we have seen only one model in which governments are run to build the next government. The tradition has been to run the government to make your party win but my purpose is to run the Government in a way to make our country win.” While hitting out at the grand old party, PM Modi made it clear that he followed Gandhi’s talisman to see the impact of the government’s decision on the poor.

He also added, “The things that people of India are entitled to, those benefits that they should have received decades ago, have still not reached them. India shouldn’t be put in a situation where it has to wait any longer for the things that this country and its citizens are entitled to, we should give it to them. And for this, big decisions should be taken and if need be, tough decisions should also be taken.”

Without mentioning Congress he said, “If a political party makes a promise and is unable to deliver on that promise, then that is one aspect which the political class must improve upon. But there is another aspect which is completely different from this and is a particularly undesirable and, I would say, detestable trait in certain sections of the political parties. This trait I am talking of is the trait of intellectual dishonesty and rajneetik dhokhadhadi.“

PM Modi on anti-farm law protests

“If you look at those who are opposing the pro-farmer reforms today, you will see the real meaning of intellectual dishonesty and rajneetik dhokhadhadi. These were the same people who wrote letters to chief ministers asking them to do the exact same thing that our Government has done. These were the same people who wrote in their manifesto that they would enact the same reforms that we have brought,” PM Modi spoke out about the political nexus between the farmer protestors and the Opposition parties.

He said that the Indian government is committed to empower small farmers and discuss issues with them in case of disagreement. “Many meetings have also been held in this regard but no one till now has come up with a specific point of disagreement that we want this to be changed. You can see the same rajneetik dhokhadhadi when it comes to Aadhaar, GST, farm laws and even crucial matters such as arming our security forces. Promise something and make arguments for it but oppose the same thing later without any moral fibre,” Pm Modi remarked

While hinting at the doublespeak of the rival parties, he also said, “Just because some other political party, blessed by the will of the people, is enacting the same reforms, they have made a complete U-turn and in a brazen display of intellectual dishonesty, completely disregard what will benefit the farmers and only seek what they think will benefit them politically….When analysts look at these matters, they also seem to only see it as a political matter and not as a matter of moral and political consistency.”

PM Modi outlined how India fought the Coronavirus pandemic

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, India witnessed reforms in several sectors including agriculture, labour, insurance, healthcare and so on. “Imagine if our country had not come up with a vaccine. What would be the situation? We know that a large population of the world doesn’t have access to Covid vaccines. Today, our success in vaccination is thanks to India being Atmanirbhar,” The Indian Prime Minister said.

He emphasised how the government used digital technology to reach the masses and roll out the vaccination drive in different phases. “The biggest lesson for us from the Covid-19 fight has been that India has an unparalleled ability to unite, find a common purpose, come together, and a tremendous capacity to deliver when a need arises. From being a net importer of PPE kits, we have now become one of the biggest manufacturers across the globe,” Narendra Modi upheld India’s spirit to fight against all odds.