PM Modi's able leadership ended 'policy paralysis': Union Minister Pralhad Joshi

Bengaluru, Jun 10 (PTI) As the Narendra Modi government at the Centre completed 11 years in office, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday credited the Prime Minister for providing a stable government that has spurred growth, development and prosperity in the country.

Contrasting this with the UPA government which was in power before 2014, he said that after almost 1984, there was a serious "policy paralysis" due to "instability".

He alleged that it was the most "unstable government" with a "weak leadership".

"Today, there is a stable government, able leadership and because of that there is a growth and because of that growth there is development and because of that development prosperity is very well seen with bare eyes in the country," he told reporters here.

Citing a study by the World Bank, Joshi claimed that extreme poverty has plummeted from 21 per cent to 5 per cent under the Modi-led government.

Pointing to world bank statistics, he said, "more than 26 crore people have come out of extreme poverty that is multi dimensional poverty. It is because of this stable government, able leadership and the welfare measures which have been started, enforced and implemented by the Modi government." Lauding PM Modi's leadership, he said this is the first time any leader and party other than the Congress party which has been given repeatedly mandate.

Alleging that earlier terrorism was used by Pakistan as a "proxy war", he said that then we used to either remain silent or were weeping.

Lauding Operation Sindoor conducted to terror camps in Pakistan, he said, "Today India is hitting back and our defense capability has increased manifolds. From specs to shoes everything was imported but today we are exporting defense equipment. 5,000 items in the defense sector which were being imported are now been indigenously developed here. 25, 000 crores worth defense equipments have been exported." Joshi claimed that by 2026, the government will eradicate Naxalism.

Listing various agricultural schemes, he claimed that the overall agricultural allocation has increased manifold from almost 2 lakh to 6 lakh crore and that via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), almost 44 lakh crore worth of benefits have been transferred to almost 25 crore people.

He also highlighted the space missions and the improvement in ease of doing business under the Modi government, noting that India has moved up from 142 to 63 in global rankings.

"India is the fourth largest economy in the world and very shortly, we are going to become the third largest economy and FDI is ever highest in the country and overall, now India is the fastest growing economy in the world," he said.

Responding to a question related to the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy stadium that killed 11 people, Joshi held the state government responsible for the tragedy and said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had himself put up a social media post giving a call for the RCB victory celebration event in a big way.

"And he's (CM) telling that I was not briefed. Police have expressed some apprehension...then how did you do the function in front of Vidhana Soudha. And today, Karnataka State Cricket Association, and also DNA (the event management firm) has said that they had never opted for function and because these people organised the parallel function at two places, the police gave more protection (at Vidhana Soudha) and less protection (at stadium) its there in the affidavit. What nonsense is this?" PTI AMP ROH