Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while attending the ground-breaking ceremony of several investment projects in Lucknow today addressed his “industrial friends” at the ceremony.
Very sharp retort by PM @narendramodi , in a speech in Lucknow, on allegations of crony capitalism. Buckle up for more turbulence folks. pic.twitter.com/FyISdGE2wt
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) July 29, 2018
Amongst other things, the PM took a dig at the hypocrisy of the Opposition on being associated with the industrialists. Modi asserted that the industrialists are as important in India’s growth story as any of the Indian farmers, artisans, bankers, financiers, any government official is.
He said, “Last time we met during the UP Investors Summit in February. I am elated to see a huge step being taken to deliver the promises made there on the ground.” He added, “Investors are an important unit towards nation-building and their prosperity is linked to the dreams of millions of youngsters of the country.”
He, in his speech, damned the opposition by saying that there are many from the opposite side he knows of, who, though publically do not acknowledge any kind of association with these big industrialists, like to be boot-licked by them in private.
Narendra Modi indirectly taking a jibe at the opposition leaders, further reiterated that if a person has clean conscious and clear intentions, then he should not be scared of his association with any industrialist what so ever. To prove his point he went on to talk about Mahatma Gandhi, saying that since he had no malice in his heart, he never got embarrassed or shied away from being associated with the Birla family.
Modi expressed his anguish, that the opposition, because of a handful of wrong-doers, is trying to malign the entire community of businessmen by calling them thieves. He said that the law-breakers would be definitely punished but belittling the entire community because of a few handfuls is deplorable and the opposition should not play petty politics and defame the entire faction.
The ground-breaking ceremony in Lucknow took place for the 81 projects that came to Uttar Pradesh during an investment summit organized by the state government in February this year.
Eighty industrialists, including major firms such as Birla, Reliance, and Adani, attended the ceremony alongside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. On Saturday, Modi laid the foundation stones and inaugurated 99 urban development projects for Uttar Pradesh worth Rs 3,897 crore. He also gave away different awards on the occasion to mark three years of the government’s flagship programmes.
