Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Parliament complex Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Parliament complex Tuesday.

Rebutting the Opposition charge that no work was happening during the NDA rule, PM Narendra Modi Tuesday threw a number of figures to claim that nine months of his government had produced much better results than several years of UPA rule.

While replying on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in Rajya Sabha, Modi said those who are not grounded themselves would never be able to see changes on the ground.

“They (Opposition) often say Modiji speaks well but there is no work happening on the ground. I want to tell them, you have been in power for very long. And power is intoxicating. God willing, we will be saved from it. When you become power drunk, your head is always in the sky,” he said.

He claimed that his government was building an average of 10.1 km of highways everyday as compared to 5.2 km a day during the UPA regime, had laid down 410 km of new railway lines in nine months as against 390 km in 2013-14, and carried out 700 km of gauge conversion compared to only 585 km by the UPA in its last year.

He went on to claim that while 7 crore Aadhar cards had been given out during the last 45 months of UPA rule, his government had already transferred 17 crores in nine months.

He also said none of his government’s flagship schemes were meant to benefit corporates and the rich.

Referring to remarks of Congress’s deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma’s remarks that Modi government was all about “rebranding, renaming, and repackaging” existing schemes, Modi said it was the UPA which appropriated schemes of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

“Vajpayee government had started Multi-purpose National Identity Card, you changed it to UID. Vajpayee government had Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. That became the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme. There was a Freedom of Information Act, you brought a Right to Information Act,” Modi said, listing the programmes introduced by the Vajpayee government, which were appropriated by subsequent UPA governments.

He also responded to Sharma’s remarks that the PM’s speech in Lok Sabha last Friday was “threatening”. “In democracy, threats have never worked, and never will. I appeal to you, things that have not been said must not be put in someone’s mouth,” he said.

Clarifying his government’s stand on black money, Modi said if the UPA had formed the Special Investigation Team in 2011 itself, when the Supreme Court had directed it to, considerable progress could have already been made.

“It was not done because there was an interest in saving some people. I still believe that every rupee of black money must be brought back. We are doing whatever we can,” he said.

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