New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday promised an unprecedented growth of the country during his third term in power, which, he said, will catapult it to one of the top three slots. Sending out a message of development and growth at the inauguration of Delhi's revamped Pragati Maidan, he said, "From east to west, north to south, India's infrastructure is changing... The world's highest rail bridge in India, the longest tunnel at the highest altitude is in India, the highest motorable road, the largest stadium, the largest statue -- all of it is in India".
The economic growth, he added, will keep pace with the country' aspirations.
"In our first term, India was in the 10th spot in terms of economy. In my second term, it is the world's fifth largest economy. On the basis of track record, I will make the country believe, in the third term, economy will be among world's top three," he added. "In my third term, India will stand among the top three economies. And this is Modi's guarantee".
The International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre, now renamed "Bharat Mandapam", also became the site of a political pitch ahead of next year's general election as PM Modi compared the growth of the last nine years with the cumulative growth of six decades since Independence.
"In the last 60 years, India managed to electrify only 20, 000 km of rail lines compared to the 40,000 km achieved by his government in the last nine years... Now every month, we are completing 6 km metro line, less than 4 lakh km of village roads... In 2014, Delhi airport's capacity was around 5 crore a year. Now it is 7.5 crore... The number of airports has reached 150," he said.
There was a dig at the opposition too. Clubbing together his political rivals, PM Modi said while centres like the Bharat Mandapam enhances a country's profile, there have been "negative minded" people who attempted to stop it.
"These people tried to stop this Bharat Mandapam. It is some people's compulsion to stop every work. In breaking news, what all was showed? So many cases were filed... I am confident that after a while, those people will come here for some lectures or event," he said.