india

Updated: May 29, 2020 16:50 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday told a gathering largely of BJP members that his aim of turning India into a $5-trillion economy will transform the lives of each and every family in the country and was therefore an important mission requiring people participation.

“Size of the cake matters,” PM said, suggesting that the bigger the cake, the greater everyone’s share is likely to be and therefore it made sense to expand Indian economy to $5 trillion. This wealth will not only transform the earning of each family but also their lives, he added.

Prime Minister said that India needed to come out of the psychological trap of celebrating poverty which was linked to the cycle of low-income, low-expenditure that was holding the economy back.

WATCH | PM Modi counters critics of $5 trillion economy aim with poetry in Varanasi

Prime Minister described himself as a ‘son of Kashi’ while asking BJP members to go door to door to explain what his government’s dream of turning India into a $5 trillion economy actually meant for them.

He said that several critics had expressed doubt if it was possible for India to become $5-trillion economy. He then recited a few Hindi couplets to suggest that his government’s resolve was stronger than the difficulties it faced. The dream of ‘New India’ was intricately linked to the ambition of making India a $5-trillion economy. “This aim will fill all of us with new commitment, new energy and new vision,” he said.

Narendra Modi hit out at critics of his $ 5-trillion economy plan as “the professional pessimist” who have a problem-centric attitude and not a solution-centric one.

“A discussion on the ways and means of achieving the difficult target must happen but rejecting it downright can’t be the right approach,” he said while hitting out.

Describing the scale of the development needed to double India’s economic output, Prime Minister said

1.25 lakh km long roads will be built in the coming years along with 2 crore houses for the rural population by 2022.

Rs 100 lakh crores will have to be spent in the next few years to create Infrastructure needed for the 21st century India, Prime Minister added while listing the chief proposals of the Budget 2019 presented in Parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“No grand ambition can be fulfilled by the government alone without people’s participation,” PM said, citing Swacch Bharat Mission and other programmes whose success he largely attributed to people. “We first need to have faith and then work towards achieving this dream,” he said.