A day after he refused to meet a visiting US delegation of Congressmen, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi made it a point to meet another delegation from the same country on Wednesday — a delegation of students from 128-year-old Stanford University.
The delegation comprising 33 MBA students from Stanford Graduate School of Business and one faculty advisor was on visit to India as part of the school-sponsored study trip.
Sources said that the students had a wide-ranging interaction with the Gujarat Chief Minister covering topics from his personal life, his motivation, his vision for tackling corruption, international relations, education, human resource development, women empowerment and manufacturing.
Responding to a question on who he considered his mentor Modi explained how he continues to be a good student, and thus looked forward to learning something from even the interaction today — making each member of the delegation a possible mentor. To a question on tackling corruption, he said a multi-pronged approach. He opined that Governments must be policy driven, leaving no scope for discretion. Policymaking must be made transparent and open. And technology must be leveraged upon to the maximum to reduce possibility of corruption
When asked about his vision for India in 10 years time, he laid out 3 crucial future landmarks, to inspire and enable the country. The first comes in 2015 (marking 100th year of Gandhiji’s return to India in service of the nation) and that can inspire the Indian Diaspora to similarly give back to the motherland. 2019, which marks 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji can inspire a national goal of a Clean India and 2022, which will mark the 75th year of Indian Independence.