PM suggests movement on development

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Wednesday that democracy was not a ‘contract’ but a partnership that had to be participatory.

Addressing a diaspora event, Mr. Modi 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.