Terming the democracy as organic system, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi mentioned that for a vast country like India, there cannot be better model of Governance than democracy.
“It is the best possible system in the world,” said Modi while addressing global meet of the Emerging Markets Forum in Washington through video-conferencing on Monday. Speaking on ‘Effective Governance in Democracy: The Gujarat Experience’, the Gujarat Chief Minister said that democracy has made lives of the people in a number of countries much better. “It is a self-correcting system. There are internal controls in it. A democracy has the process and possibility to raise people’s voices. It is an organic system in the true sense,” he added.
He cautioned against a possible disconnect between the people and the Government after the elections is over saying that there should not be any doubts on a democracy for it has a solid foundation and flexible framework. Modi talked elaborately about the importance of good governance and said that governance must be system based and policy driven and that is when things like subjectivity and corruption would be reduced.
“People are ready to listen for the sake of development. People are ready for bitter pills only that they want an assurance that what is happening is for their greater good. People need to have faith,” he said, recalling his own experience when he took over as the CM when he told the farmers to look at water conservation over the then prevailing energy crisis. The result was that a large number of irrigation structures were made, the Government and people worked together and a lot was done in the field of irrigation.
Modi gave five areas where democracy must be taken ahead that include enhancing levels of harmony, participation, information, institutionalisation, and capacity to listen.
Referring to the name of the body that organised the event – Emerging Markets Forum, Modi said, “It is a mistake to consider these emerging countries only as markets. Are they simply marketsIJ Can we change our terminologyIJ They are emerging growth centres!” These nations are blessed with immense potential for human resources and in terms of being cost effective, he added.
Mantra of the Gujarat Government has always been Gujarat’s growth for India’s growth, he pointed out adding that at the same time things have changed in other States too. On a question received on Gujarat doing better than other States in preventing corruption, Modi said, “People are the best judge and this is the reason they are giving us a chance one after another.”