MUMBAI: ABP News election special- “GHOSHNAPATRA”, brings BJP Prime Minister candidate Narendra Modi interacting with the Editors, ABP News, ABP Majha and ABP Ananda on the array of issues in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls 2014. This interview was recorded on April, 20, 2014, Sunday.
Please find below some of the highlights of the interview.
Please note that the interview was in Hindi and the translation in English is indicative. Kindly refer to the detailed intercepts in Hindi on our website http://abpnews.abplive.in/ and for English at http://www.abplive.in/ at 9pm.
Modi on RSS, ‘India First’- “I need to run the government, and the government functions as per the constitution. I believe that there is only one religion for the government- India First. There is only one Holy Book for the government- our Constitution, the government believes in one prayer- “Bharat Bhakti”. There is only one way to governance- “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas”.
Modi on ‘Rajdharma’- “I have taken it (moral responsibility of any person killed in Gujarat) since day one. All my interviews, speeches (in the assembly) are available. I request you to do some research. Everything is available…you will find answers to all your queries (in those speeches and interviews).”
Modi on being grilled for 9 hours in the 2002 riots case: “you can try me as much (on the 2002 riots), but you wont be able to do it. In 2007, when UPA came into power the second time, I was dragged to Supreme Court due to (political) conspiracy..it was then that I decided not to speak since the Supreme Court must not get influenced. Till date, no chief minister in India has been grilled by police for nine hours…this (me) is the chief minister who has been grilled for 9 hours by police officers. Supreme Court has seen the video recording (of the questioning). I have proven myself on these fronts and will continue to do so in future as well. But I refuse to surrender to lies and political conspiracies.”
Modi on “Muslims scared of Modi”- “You would have my interview in your library (archives) in 2002 (post-winning the Gujarat polls). After winning the polls in 2002, I went to Maninagar in the evening to thank the voters…I said in my speech that day, that this (Gujarat) government belongs to those who have voted for it, against it and even to those who have not voted. The ‘mantra’ for my government is ‘Abhai (fearless), Abhai, Abhai’…I said it thrice.”
Modi On Giriraj- “Nobody can agree with what he (Giriraj) has said”…
Modi on his aggressive personality, issues like Ram Mandir, Uniform Civil Code in the manifesto- “The country doesn’t work with aggression, the nation works as per the Constitution, country moves forward with constitutional dignity…aggression is meant for polls…not to run the government.”
Modi on- “Acche din aane wale hai”- “Is there an expiry date mentioned everywhere…a (party) manifesto stands for five years, a government is formed for five years…it (government) has to deliver in these five years- some work (projects) is initiated and some work (projects) are meant to be accomplished…It is very clear that a manifesto is not a final declaration of the 21st century (a decade)…it stands for the term of a government.”
Modi on Vadra- “Jeejaji”- “see you will have to acknowledge, how will you acknowledge…if something (Vadra’s alleged growth in real estate) has happened, if there is a connect with the family (The Gandhis), then the connect lies within this word (‘Jijaji’)…I am not aware of any other word (connect), otherwise I would have taken up that…”
Modi on Ambani and Adani: “This is not your question. It is not expected from media to carry forward the agenda taken up by the political opponents. You are expected to talk about how Modi has governed (in Gujarat) for the last 14 years. There was a government where you could find only middlemen (in political corridors)..Modi’s identity is a government where you can not find any middlemen…people of India can proudly say that there is a (state) government which can not be pressurized, which can’t be managed (with money). My 14-year track record speaks for me…at least people like you (media) should should not own such (allegations) things…here I am using the word media.”
Modi on “Shehzada”: “This is weird…this word “Shehzada”…we have read about it in history…around four-five years back, Congress had termed Sonia Gandhi as “Rajmata”…and they continued using the word (“Rajmata”) this for a long time…so now should I question Congress for using these princely terms when those times are long over…It’s fine (no big deal) if they have said such a thing.”
Modi on his marital-status row: “I am not surprised at anything, there is nothing to my (personal) life…since there is nothing much for them (to talk about), they keep talking about (such) things…”
Modi on black money: “there is a word about Indian money stashed in banks abroad…by and large there is no dispute in that. The government has the information on that…but we are not in the government, and those in the government are not responding to it. So our stand is, that we will bring the truth out as we form the government. The rounds will stop if there is nothing to it and if it is (money stashed abroad) then we will get it back.”
Modi on political alignment with Lalu and Pawar- “No, no no…there is no such (political alignment with Sharad Pawar) thing. As far as friendship is concerned, you would be surprised to know that I am friends with Laluji…we exist in a social setup, but we need to take individual stands due to our political ideologies. But this is one big family…and there can’t be any enemies here.”
Modi on support from Raj Thackeray: “As far as the results are concerned on May 16, I firmly believe that we will not need any such support to govern the nation. But you need everyone’s support to run the nation. I am of the opinion that in a democracy, to run the nation, we must rise above politics and take support from everyone, (though) we would not need (support) to the run the government, we will get full support from the people. Even if Rahul wins from Amethi, though the chances of that are bleak, and becomes the leader of Opposition…we will take his support too. In my view, you need to take everyone along to run the nation.”
Modi on firm-handedness with Pakistan: “first and the foremost thing is that we should run the country in such a way that nobody should be able to dare look at us. We need to be balanced (look straight into the eyes at the international level) and that should get reciprocated…that is the best way forward.”
Modi on visting US: ”this is a tough question…yes a very tough question…the country has chosen me to work for the nation.”
