Jharkhand Has the Potential to Overtake Gujarat, says PM Narendra Modi: Highlights

Ranchi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Jharkhand to inaugurate a power grid and transmission circuit, a gas pipeline project and reinvigorate the NTPC plant.

Following are the highlights of his speech:

• I am glad the people of Jharkhand have chosen the path of development by giving us their support
• I am here to return the love you've given me with interest through development
• This state isn't a state that should be backward
• Jharkhand has the capabilities to be among India's most developed states
• Jharkhand can be more developed than Gujarat
  
• Atal Behari Vajpayee created Jharkhand with a dream that this land with rich natural resources will benefit the nation too
• This project was inaugurated by Vajpayee ji but it hasn't moved forward. I think it is my fate to take forward the work started by Atal ji
• With several development initiatives we have to take Jharkhand forward
• Together we have to change things. With several development initiatives we have to take Jharkhand forward
• If we have to take India forward no part of this country can remain behind. People in the eastern part of India are waiting for development
• Whether it is East or West, North of South, India must have balanced development
• This transmission line will play an important role in Jharkhand's development
• We cannot take India forward if we overlook what states want. Our government in Delhi wants to facilitate development in each state
• The decision taken by our government for royalties on minerals will benefit Jharkhand by Rs. 4000 crores a year and for that Hemant Soren didn't need to come to me
• Like you get water in your tap, you should be able to get gas on a pipeline - we're working towards that
• The youth here has potential - we want to prioritise manufacture of electrical goods
• We will begin work on an Indian Institute of Information Technology in Ranchi
• Even in an aadivasi-majority area like Jharkhand, mobile phones are playing such an important role
• For the common man, the government should be in his hands. You can track the government's work from your mobile phones - that is the 'Digital India' dream
• Objective of Digital India is to bring the government into the hands of every citizen
• The government is functioning well because the people have given us a clear mandate. If we hadn't gotten that mandate and lived in the uncertainty of alliance politics, I may not have been able to take the steps I'm taking
  
• I understand the need for stability and so do the people of Jharkhand 
• Jharkhand is now 13... this is a critical age... the people here must decide how Jharkhand will be when it is 18..