Heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar likened him to former Prime Minister lal Bahadur Shastri, both in terms of ability to convince countrymen as well as solving vexed issues using the simplest of solutions.
Parrikar who was in Goa to participate in a State Government function also spoke about a wide range of Defence Ministry related issuing ranging from the delay which plagued Tejas to HAl’s big plans for Goa.
The former Chief Minister of Goa also recalled his days as a youngster when Shastri took a unique route to solve the problem of food shortage in the country.
“The biggest achievement, which I appreciate the most (about Modi Government’s achievement) is that people have started changing the way they think. We had coined a slogan, ‘Mera Desh Badal Raha Hai’. I will give you an example about this… The manner in which people respond to an appeal made by a Prime Minister I witnessed myself in 1965. Now I get to see the same thing in 2015,” Parrikar said.
The Defence Minister said that he was 10-years-old in 1965, when he was moved by Shastri’s appeal to a nation and the countrymen’s response to him.
“He (Shastri) was that type of a Prime Minister who people felt for. People could equate with him because he would speak from his heart. I was very young then, I do not remember the date, but he appealed to the country that India was facing food shortage and that food imports had reduced, but he had found a simple solution to this shortage,” Parrikar said.
The solution, Shastri suggested, involved every Indian skipping meals for one day or skipping one meal a day.
“He said if every Indian citizen, our populatin was around 60 to 65 crore, skipped meals for one day of at least one meal a day then the country’s food demand would drop by 10 to 15 per cent... I remember many people that time skipped eating for a day. They still have that habit,” Parrikar said, adding that he sees the same shades in Modi, whether it is in India or abroad.
“I dont have to tell you what kind of a response he got from the American senate when he went to the US. You have seen it on TV. He has lifted the name of India globally,” Parrikar said, referring to the rush of Senators keen to have Modi’s signature after his speech in the US Senate.
Parrikar further said that India, which was seen as a country where elephants roamed the streets and a place where snake-charmers abounded and magicians were performing rope-tricks right up to the 1980s, was now seen as a powerful entity under Modi.
“Therefore people, as well as other countries see India differently now. When I go on trips abroad, I see this change in perception about how others see India as a powerful entity. I have witnessed this change in the mindset in this country,” Parrikar said.