Chaiwallahs, autodrivers and handicraft workers have benefitted from the economy model pursued by the Gujarat Government led by him, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
Outrightly rejecting the view of the Congress that he was behind the emergence of big businessmen, and that he would go out of his way to benefit the Adanis and the Ambanis when he comes to power at the Centre, Modi said: "To be specific, the per capita income of Gujarat is higher than that of India as a whole. In India, 57 percent of the total employment was generated from Gujarat. Now, who has benfitted? It was the poor. Earlier, there was two percent agriculture growth in my state, but in the last ten years, it has grown to 10 percent. It was the farmer who has benefitted. There was no tourism in Gujarat, but today, the growth in tourism in Gujarat is much higher than that of the national average. Who benefitted? It was the chaiwallahs, autodrivers and handicraft workers etc."
To a question posed by Smita Prakash, Editor (News) Asian News International (ANI), in an exclusive interview held here, on whether one type of crony capitalism will be replaced by another, Modi said: "There has been growth for everybody and that is what should happen. Not only this, small scale industries, you will be pleased to know that at least 80 percent of growth of small scale industries in India happened in Gujarat. So, people who accuse me, have nothing new to say."
"Secondly, how come the Government in Delhi which says that I have done wrong in Gujarat, is not able to able to investigate the charges properly. Therefore, such a government should not continue who have so much to accuse me of in their speeches, but has nothing to take action on. Such a non-performing government should not continue even for a minute," he added.