Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI MAY 01:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India has never been an aggressor nor encroached upon anyone’s territory and saw no distinction between religions, castes and languages.
Speaking at an event here on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, he said the teachings of the Buddha were based on humanity and the country was proud the philosophy had originated here.
“India has never had a history or tradition of attacking others’ ideology or country. India has never been an aggressor. It has never encroached upon (the territory) of any other country,” Modi said addressing a gathering at the function organised by the Ministry of Culture.
While speaking on the teachings of the Buddha, Modi said all ideologies which had originated in India were based on the welfare of humankind and the environment.
The teachings of the Buddha had shaped the national character of several Asian countries, he said.
“At a time when terrorism, casteism, dynasty politics appear to be overshadowing the teachings of the Buddha, the talk of affection and friendship are becoming more relevant and important,” Modi said.
“Distinctions in society, between religions, races, castes and languages can never be a message of India or the teachings of the Buddha, and nor can there be a place for such thoughts,” he added. He asserted that the country embraced
individuals from any caste, religion, race or faith.
Modi cited the example of Jews and Parsis and said they had been residing in India for centuries and had become an integral part of India’s identity.
ndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday assailed the Congress government in Karnataka for initiating the culture of “ease of doing murder”, as he launched the second leg of his campaign blitz in the state for the Assembly elections.
He also accused the successive Congress governments at the Centre of allowing a handful of people to “loot” banks while denying loans to poor.
The prime minister unleashed an all out attack on opposition Congress president Rahul Gandhi and dared him “to speak in any language” for 15 minutes about the achievements of Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah government without referring to a piece of paper. “I dare the Congress president to speak in Hindi, English or the mother tongue of his mother to deliver a speech in Karnataka for 15 minutes, without reading out from a piece of paper, on the achievements of the party government…
people of Karnataka will draw their own conclusion,” he told an election rally at Santemaranahalli in Chamaraja district.
Modi was responding to Rahul Gandhi’s dare to him to allow him to speak for 15 minutes in Parliament on various issues, including corruption, and that the prime minister will not be able to sit for 15 minutes.
“His speaking for 15 minutes will itself is a big thing. And when I hear that I would not be able to sit, I think…wow, what a scene it is? Congress president, Sir, we cannot sit before you. You are ‘naamdar’ (famous), while I am ‘kaamdar’ (ordinary worker). We have no status to sit in front of you,” he said.
While slamming Gandhi, he asked him also to pronounce the name of Visveswaraya five times, apparently taking a swipe at the Congress leader who struggled to pronounce the legendary engineer-scholar’s name at a public rally whose video had gone viral.
Modi claimed over two dozen BJP workers were killed under the Congress government in the southern Indian state, Karnataka, in political violence.
“What was their crime? It was that they were opposed to your views, they raised their voice for the people of Karnataka.
“We want to encourage the ease of doing business, they (the Congress) have initiated the culture of ease of doing murder,” he told another election rally in Udupi.
He asked the audience whether or not the Congress should not be banished from Karnataka and the country, and should not the mentality of political violence end. A lustily cheering audience responded with shouts of “yes, yes”.
Modi also referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s insistence on disbanding the Congress after independence, and said with the party facing defeat after defeat in the last four years, the Father of the Nation’s “last dream” was about to materialise with its decimation in the Karnataka polls.
Speaking about the pioneering work done in the banking sector in Udupi, Modi said despite the nationalisation of banks poor remained out of the banking system until his government started helming the country.
