New Delhi: With Phase 1 polling all set to take place on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi excused confidence about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning Assembly Elections with a thumping majority in all five poll-bound states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, PM Modi spoke on length about various issues including Assembly elections, rollback of farm laws, his security breach in Punjab's Ferozepur, dynastic politics, his speech in Parliament and more.
Here are some top highlights from Prime Minister Narendra Modi interview to ANI:
1. I can see a wave for BJP in all five poll-bound states. We will win with an overwhelming majority and people in 5 states will give us an opportunity to serve them. BJP is always involved in serving people. When in power, we work with mantra of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'. Wherever BJP has been given the opportunity to work with stability, there you will find an atmosphere of pro-incumbency and not anti-incumbency. BJP always emerges into elections with pro-incumbency.
2. During his interaction, PM Modi said that the three farm laws were taken back in the interests of the country. "I have said this earlier also that farm laws were brought in for the benefit of farmers, but have now been withdrawn in the interest of the nation. I don't think this needs to be explained anymore. Future events will make it clear why these steps were necessary," PM Modi said.
3. When asked to react to the incident of his security breach in Punjab's Ferozepur, PM Modi said that he will not speak on the issue as it could impact the Supreme Court-mandated investigation. "I have maintained silence on the issue. The Supreme Court is looking into the matter seriously. Any statement that I make in this regard will impact the investigation, and it is not right," he said.
4. While hitting out at Opposition and accusing them of promoting "dynastic politics", PM Modi said that it is a big threat to democracy and severely compromises on the talent coming into politics. "Two persons from a family getting elected and becoming MLAs does not make the party belonging to a family. When a party is run for generations by a family, there's only dynasty, not dynamics. Starting from Jammu and Kashmir, where there're two parties run by two separate families, you can see similar trend in Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Dynastic politics is the biggest enemy of democracy," he said.
5. When asked about his recent speech during Budget session in Parliament, PM Modi said that he did not speak about anyone's father or grandfather. "I said what a former PM had said. It is the right of the nation (to know). They say we don't mention Nehru ji. If we do, then too there's difficulty. I do not understand this fear," PM Modi said.