The rape of a little girl was a ‘crime against society’ but playing a ‘blame game’ was an even ‘bigger mistake’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a diaspora event in central London on Wednesday.
‘Rape is rape,’ declared the Prime Minister, referring to the Kathua and Unnao incidents, insisting that the rape of ‘India’s young daughters’ could ‘never be accepted.’ ‘Who is responsible for this is a matter of concern to the country.’
Around 1,700 attended the high-security event.
Mr. Modi also spoke on the decision to launch surgical strikes in Kashmir in 2016.
“To people who export terrorism it is time to tell them India has changed,” he declared in response to a question on the 2016 strikes. In response to those who engaged in a proxy fight “should I not respond with like for like?,” he said.
Mr. Modi said that democracy was not a ‘contract’ but a partnership that had to be participatory.
Mr. Modi also spoke of his visit to the Basaveswara statue in London, healthcare, power, and sanitation, making several pointed references to the Congress, and defending his government’s track record to date.
“I may make mistakes but never with a bad intention,” he insisted. Drawing a parallel between him and Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister said Gandhi had made independence a public movement, while he wished to make development a public movement. “I don’t need a lecture on poverty... I have experienced it”’ he insisted.
He took a range of questions from the audience as well as from a feed from outside the centre, submitted ahead of the event.
