Propping himself up upon claims of unprecedented development in his home State, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lashed out at the UPA government over issues of “weak foreign policy, corruption and poor governance”.
He was addressing NRIs — particularly Gujaratis — across 20 cities in the United States through video-link on the occasion of Gujarat Day. He did not refer to the fact that the U.S. had denied him visa because of his government’s alleged complicity in the 2002 communal conflagration in Gujarat.
In response to Mr. Modi’s remarks on the country’s foreign policy, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, on a visit to the State, said the Chief Minister should refrain from making comments on a subject he had no idea about. Mr. Modi had asked: “China withdraws its forces from our territory but why are Indian forces withdrawing from Indian territory?”
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On issues plaguing the UPA government, Mr. Modi asserted that the Centre made tall claims of good governance but there were still worries over the safety of women. The country was witness to unprecedented corruption, he said.
“They have not even spared coal,” Mr. Modi said, adding that the optimism generated towards the late 1990s had disappeared during the last 8 years when this was ideally a time to build on that optimism and show results.
The Chief Minister further said: “I feel the biggest crisis today is a huge deficit of trust. We need to get this back and this cannot be done merely by words.”
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Narayana Murthy’s pat
Meanwhile, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy on Monday showered praise on Mr. Modi’s administrative qualities.
In an interaction with the media in Vadodara, Mr. Murthy said: “There is no doubt about his ability as an administrator. When I go to Ahmedabad and come here, what I see is uninterrupted power, good roads, and excellent infrastructure. It is clear from data on ground that the State has performed well.”