Modi govt never took populist decisions due to vote bank politics; gave political stability: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Modi government never took populist decisions for vote bank politics and instead worked for the betterment of people through its "all-inclusive" schemes and by providing political stability in the country.

Addressing the annual session of industry-body Assocham here, he said development is possible in a vast country like India only through the "whole of government approach" and Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented this vision of "Team India" on the ground.

"This is why good results have come from every field in the last nine years. When we take decisions, we have before us the betterment of the country or a sector. We have before us efforts to put a system in place in the country. We don't take decisions considering vote banks. Otherwise, GST would have never come in this country. We know there is a long army of people ridiculing the GST (Goods and Services Tax) as 'Gabbar Singh Tax' in the country. But we never cared for this," he said.

Shah said the government never took decisions that were populist but took decisions that were good for the people.

If a child gets malaria and a doctor prescribes him quinine (an anti-malaria drug), then he/she will definitely cry after taking it due to its bitterness but will smile soon after getting healed, he said.

Shah said precise policies made after deliberations by the government have taken India on the path of progress.

He said the government's "all-embracing" and "all-inclusive" schemes have led to the multi-faceted development of India.

"Our ideology has made India safe, our sensitive schemes have made India's development all-inclusive and we have surprised the world with our achievements," he added.

Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has also brought political stability in the country and after 30 years in 2014, a government with full majority was formed and the people of the country have made significant contributions in it.

This period under the leadership of Modi will be known as the 'period of political stability' in the history of Indian democracy, he said.

"When we took over the work (in 2014), at that time there was a government where nobody considered a prime minister as the prime minister and every minister used to consider himself as the prime minister. That is why policies could not be decided. This had led to policy paralysis," the home minister said.

Shah said that since 2014, the government has implemented the principles of governance at the grass-root level with a strong determination and has brought many new policies including those on education, drone and health.

He said that the government has created an environment to strengthen the local industries of the country with 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' and 'vocal for local'.

Shah said that the internal and external security situation in the country has also strengthened in the last nine years.

"A strong environment of national security has been created in the country, which has developed a favourable environment for industrial development across the country from the northeast to Kutch in Gujarat and from J&K to Kanyakumari," he said.

He said that the development of the entire India can happen only when the entire nation makes efforts for it.

Shah said that unless there is an all-inclusive development of India, "we cannot achieve our goal".

He said that many people consider the population of 130 crores as a huge burden but it has a huge market.

According to Shah, the government is working to bring down logistics cost to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 7.5 per cent from the current 13 per cent and it has formulated a framework for the next five years.

"I can assure you that we will reach 7.5 per cent logistics cost in the next five years," he said, addressing the event 'Bharat@100 Paving the way for inclusive and sustainable global growth'.

Shah said that India's share in the global GDP in 2014 was 2.6 per cent, which has increased to 3.4 per cent by March 31, 2022.

He said that the country's share in global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow was 2.1 per cent in 2014 which has increased to 6.7 per cent in 2022. In 2014, the per capita income of the country was Rs 68,000, which is Rs 1.72 lakh today, Shah said.

He said that in 2014 the length of National Highways was 91,000 kilometers which has increased to 1.46 lakh kilometers today.

Shah said that the government has planned to invest about Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure.

The home minister said that the government has tried to grow the economy on the four pillars of tough decisions, formulation of precise policies, strict implementation of these policies and complete removal of corruption.

He said that the time has come for the Indian industry to change its size and scale under the leadership of Modi.

Shah also credited Modi for giving a humane face to dry GDP numbers through social schemes which is a "first in the world".

He said that before 2014, no one ever discussed about 60 crore people who did not have any bank account and who were not a part of the country's economy.

The home minister said that the prime minister has provided the facility of a bank account to every family in 9 years.

He said that through Direct benefit transfer (DBT), the government led by Prime Minister Modi has directly transferred more than Rs 24 lakh crores to the 48 crore bank accounts for more than 310 schemes of 53 ministries.

Shah said that the prime minister has brought many reforms to raise the living standard of these 60 crore people of the country.

He said that by giving a human face and sensitivity to the GDP, Modi has brought change in the lives of the deprived 60 crore people of the country.

Shah, who is also the Minister of Cooperation, said Modi has set two goals for the country.

"Firstly, India should be a fully developed nation by 2047 and secondly, to make India a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025 and to achieve these two goals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid a strong foundation in 9 years," he added.

Shah also slammed the previous governments of "jugglery" by hiding fiscal deficit numbers in budget documents.

"But the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi has controlled the deficit and brought it within the parameters of the economy," he said.

Taking a dig at former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, Shah said when the prime minister was giving details of the Digital India scheme in Parliament, the Congress leader had questioned how a payment of Rs 7.5 be made online to a vegetable vendor? Chidamabarm had then raised three points -- first do they have any machine for payment? Secondly, has electricity reached there? And thirdly, does the internet work there?, the Home Minister said.

"Today I would request Chidambaram ji, that you go to any vendor and you will find these three (things)," Shah said.

He said, now, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is being used by almost every business.

Shah said that through Digital India, a total of 8,840 crore digital transactions have taken place in the country in 2022, in which the share of UPI is 52 percent and their total value is Rs 126 lakh crore.

He said that electricity has reached 99 percent of India's villages, 1.90 lakh panchayats of the country have been connected to BharatNet and over 6 lakh kilometers of optical fibre has been laid in the last 6 years.

Shah said that in 2014 there were 6.1 crore broadband connections, which has increased to 82 crore in September 2022.

He said that this shows that while leading the country, Modi has the capacity, courage and vision to harness all the possibilities so that the country can reach the targeted goal.