Modi: ‘Don’t want certificate from anyone’

Chennai: “No
one should preach us secularism and I don’t want any certificate from
any part of the world.” This was the reply from Gujarat chief Minister
Narendra Modi to a query about the United States’ refusal to issue visa
to him.

Interacting with investors
at the state session at the seventh Pravasi Bhartiya Divas meet in
Chennai, Modi said, “History says secularism is in our blood. We as a
community never attack any one, any time, any where. We believe in
harmony.”

When a delegate queried about
the Gujarat communal riots and the subsequent delay in their probe,
Modi shot back saying: “Do you think the Centre would have left me like
this if they had any proof against me? I have a government that is
unfavourable at the Centre and their quietness says it all.”

Highlighting Gujarat’s
progress, Modi said public-private partnership model, people’s
involvement and friendly policies were the key factors for the success
of his government.

On the judiciary front, there
were only 22 lakh cases pending as on date against 45 lakh cases in
2005. By 2010, Gujarat’s golden jubilee year, the state aims to achieve
zero pendency of cases, he added.

Focussing on the connectivity
aspect of the state, Modi said Gujarat was the first in Asia to achieve
broadband connectivity in all its 80,000 villages.”

“The state was hoping to move
towards a ‘Rurban model’. Villages to have the infrastructure facility
as the cities and cities to have the human aspect of villages. Atma gaon ki magar business sheharon ki (soul of villages but business of cities),” he said.

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