It is the victory of citizens who aspire for an honest government, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected back with a bigger majority than before, termed his victory a mandate from a new India and a victory for democracy and for an aspirational and inclusive country.

Addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters here on Thursday, Mr. Modi said the mandate laid the foundation for the 21st century India, where there would be only two castes. “The first of these castes would be the poor, and the second those who want to fight poverty,” he said. The emergence of these two castes in this election was the reason for the defeat of parties that espoused casteism.

In an impassioned speech, he said that in his second term, he wanted to make three vows to the people. “My first vow is that I will not do anything out of ill-will or bad intentions, I could make mistakes but never do anything out of malice. My second vow is that I shall never do anything for myself in order to garner profit for myself, and my third vow is that every minute of my life and myself I shall devote to the country. Whenever you want to evaluate me, you must do so on these parameters,” he said.

‘Price rise not an issue this time’

In his address to BJP workers here after NDA’s victory in the general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recounted what he felt were unique and historic aspects of the mandate.

“In our country, for many years, we have had what was a fake mask of secularism, which would be used to cover all manner of things, frequent calls would be given for seculars to get together for what was a convenient mask. In 2019, the entire coterie that used to use this mask to fool the world has stopped doing so. The other big thing is that in every election since independence, price rise used to be an issue; this time around, for the first time an incumbent government did not face this as a poll issue. Lastly, there were many elections fought by governments which had to answer to corruption charges; but this time, we fought without a blemish of a corruption taint,” he said.

“This is not my or the BJP’s victory alone. It is the victory of citizens who aspire for an honest government, for the mothers who want a toilet built in their house, for the sick who wait for years to save money to seek treatment and who are now covered by Ayushman Bharat, for the farmer who toils in the field for a just price for his produce, for the 40 crore unorganised labour who for the first time have the assurance of benefits, and the honest taxpayer who wants the assurance that the tax he/she is paying is going to the right place,” he said.

He also struck a note of conciliation towards the Opposition, saying it would be his endeavour to take everyone along as Prime Minister. “Sarkarein bahumat se chalti hon, par Desh sarvmat se chalta hai [governments may run on majorities but the country runs on consensus],” he said.

He also promised that his government would respect the bounds placed by the Constitution.