Narendra Modi addresses a Washington-based forum on emerging markets via teleconference.
Ahmedabad:
Narendra Modi pitched Brand BJP to a global audience today, outlining why he believed it was time for his party to stage a comeback at the Centre.
It was a rare Modi speech in English, as he addressed a Washington-based forum on emerging markets via video conference. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate said it was a "mistake" to consider emerging markets like India as markets. "Are they simply markets? I suggest we call them emerging growth centres. They are blessed with immense potential for human resources and in terms of being cost-effective," he said. (Highlights of Narendra Modi's speech)
Mr Modi said the Indian people could no longer be taken for granted by those who ruled: "In India we have come to a stage when people are not ready to be fooled."
What the people would accept, he said, was hard decisions if they were convinced that these would help in the long term. "People are ready
for bitter pills, only that they want an assurance that what
is happening is for their greater good," he said, holding out the promise that a government led by him would not suffer from the policy paralysis that has beset the present Congress-led UPA government, making investors wary.
There was "no alternative to good governance," and the evidence of that, the Gujarat chief minister said, was his state. "The last four Gujarat elections have shown that people can tell the difference between good and bad," he said.
The BJP has won the last four elections in Gujarat; the last three campaigns have been designed and led by Mr Modi.
"I motivated civil servants to take decisions - I encourage them to take up projects which give them self satisfaction,' he said, adding, "Our mantra was Gujarat's growth for India's growth."
Mr Modi has been denied a visa by the US after the 2002 riots and has addressed several conferences there recently via video conference.
It was a rare Modi speech in English, as he addressed a Washington-based forum on emerging markets via video conference. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate said it was a "mistake" to consider emerging markets like India as markets. "Are they simply markets? I suggest we call them emerging growth centres. They are blessed with immense potential for human resources and in terms of being cost-effective," he said. (Highlights of Narendra Modi's speech)
Mr Modi said the Indian people could no longer be taken for granted by those who ruled: "In India we have come to a stage when people are not ready to be fooled."
What the people would accept, he said, was hard decisions if they were convinced that these would help in the long term. "People are ready
for bitter pills, only that they want an assurance that what
is happening is for their greater good," he said, holding out the promise that a government led by him would not suffer from the policy paralysis that has beset the present Congress-led UPA government, making investors wary.
There was "no alternative to good governance," and the evidence of that, the Gujarat chief minister said, was his state. "The last four Gujarat elections have shown that people can tell the difference between good and bad," he said.
The BJP has won the last four elections in Gujarat; the last three campaigns have been designed and led by Mr Modi.
"I motivated civil servants to take decisions - I encourage them to take up projects which give them self satisfaction,' he said, adding, "Our mantra was Gujarat's growth for India's growth."
Mr Modi has been denied a visa by the US after the 2002 riots and has addressed several conferences there recently via video conference.
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