New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday he welcomed ‘constructive criticism’ and there should be enough space in public life for ‘differing streams’ to listen to each other’s point of view. There should be continuous dialogue in society irrespective of differing views, the Prime Minister asserted.
People with differing views do not have to agree on everything but there must be ‘enough civility in public life for differing streams to be able to hear each other’s point of view’ pointed out Narendra Modi while addressing via a video link the gathering at a News Conclave in Kochi.
“Here I am, at a forum where perhaps I do not have many whose thought process is similar to mine but there are enough thinking people whose constructive criticism is something I greatly look forward to,” Narendra Modi told the gathering.
“It is usually believed that public figures prefer to be on forums whose thought process matches with the person’s own world view because there is a lot of comfort in being among such people. Of course, I also cherish being among such surroundings but, at the same time, I believe there must be a constant and continuous dialogue between individuals and organisations irrespective of one’s thought process,” the Prime Minister added.
Referring to the ‘spirit of new India’, Modi said a culture in which aspiration became a bad word was perpetrated for many years. Doors opened depending on the person’s surname or contacts.
“Success depended on whether you belonged to an old boy’s club. Big cities, big institutions and big families … this is all that mattered,” Modi informed. “This is an India where the surnames of the youth do not matter. What matters is their ability to make their own name,” he added.
The economic culture of ‘License Raj and Permit Raj struck at the heart of individual ambitions.’ However India was changing for the better Modi pointed out.
The Prime Minister referred to several changes in governance, adding that they were earlier deemed ‘impossible’.
“In a state like Haryana, it was not thinkable that recruitment for government jobs could be done transparently. But now people are talking about the transparent manner in which recruitment took place,” Modi informed.
Referring to the ‘citizen-centric governance’ of his regime, he said over 1.5 crore homes for the poor have been constructed at a rapid pace.
“We were conscious of the fact that we were not creating houses, but were building homes. We needed to move away from the concept of merely constructing four walls. Our approach was to deliver more facilities, more value, deliver in less time and deliver at no extra cost,” Modi stressed.
Modi stated that his government does not only care about people living in India, but also of the diaspora settled abroad.
“When Indian nurses were captured in different parts of West Asia, no stone was left unturned to bring them back home. The same spirit was seen when Father Tom, another son of Kerala, was captured,” he said.
Father Tom Uzhunnalil was freed after being kept in captivity allegedly by the IS for 18 months in strife-torn Yemen.
One of the highlights of his recent visit to Bahrain was that the Royal Family pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences there. Similar pardons have been granted by Oman and Saudi Arabia, he said.
PTI
