'A wave can be found out only once it is over'

Euronews: India is going to vote next spring. Major general elections are coming up. I know you cannot talk about party politics in your position today. But you are a senior politician. You have seen so much of Indian politics. So, can you tell me really briefly what you think are the key issues that are going to win or lose the elections?

President of India: Various issues are being projected by various parties. India is a multiparty democratic system, largest functional democracy of the world. Our total electorate is nearly 800 million and about 60 per cent of them exercise their voting right regularly. I have tremendous faith and confidence on the political wisdom of the Indian electorate. They know which outfit is to be chosen by them to further their interests, economic development, inclusive growth, maintenance of law and order, protection of internal security and protection from external threat. So, the Indian electorate are fully aware of their responsibility, and I am confident that they will exercise their right very wisely.

Euronews: But will they vote thinking about those issues you just said? Will they vote thinking about the economy, the inclusiveness, and the employment; or will they vote, for example, with their stomach? You did a very huge food plan to distribute food to everybody. Is this a way also to...

President of India: No, of course, there are certain important programmes which will be debated and that is a strategy of our economic development. When I was talking of the inclusive growth, it is just not an empty phrase. How could we achieve the inclusive growth? Inclusive growth we could achieve by empowering people, empowering people through entitlement and entitlement through legal enactment, legal guarantee. We have given this guarantee in respect of the job in the rural areas. We have given this guarantee to education up to the age of 14 years, universal education. We have given this empowerment to the Indian people. More than two-thirds of them will be provided, backed by legal guarantee, with certain quantum of food at subsidised price - 66 per cent of the population of 1.2 billion - which is called food security. Of course, these important flagship economic programmes are being debated, and people express their view during the General Election.

Euronews: I just asked you about this because I read in The Economist, they kind of criticised that plan because it would cost a lot, one per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Actually the money could have been better spent according to this magazine, if it was devoted to sanitation, health, building roads, instead of distributing five kilos of cereals to 70 per cent of the people.

President of India: One does not cancel the other. Nothing prevents from improving sanitation, nothing prevents from improving health, education. Currently, when we are talking of this, apart from this food security Bill which has been passed, in more than 1.2 million elementary schools we are providing food to 10.8 crore people. One crore is equal to 10 million. 10.8 crore children are being fed regularly.

Therefore, what I am talking of is that we want to achieve inclusive growth, and inclusive growth, of course, requires that there must be food, there must be education, there must be health and sanitation. We shall have to move for inclusive growth and inclusive growth could be achieved by providing food, education, health, sanitation because after all policymakers of India are to take care of 1.2 billion plus people and it is a huge task. Therefore, our developmental model cannot be framed in the context of other countries' developmental model. It must be in the context of the socio-economic conditions prevailing in India.

Euronews: And do you think it is important in this election to have a charismatic leader in order to win it?

President of India: Whether a leader is charismatic or not depends on whether he or she is able to catch the vote. Charisma is tested by them. Here I can tell you as a political activist that always we talk during the election of a wave or wind. But wave or wind can be found out only once it is over. When it is coming or when it is blowing, nobody can say where the wind is blowing or the wave is moving.

Euronews: Let us move to another question. I want to if I could now tap into your incredible historical perspective. If anyone has lived through all the pages of India after Gandhi, you have. We do not have time for a history lesson. But just tell me one thing. If the founding fathers of India - Gandhi, Nehru - were here today, would they be reasonably content with what they see?

President of India: Of course. When we became independent there was disunity. When we drafted our Constitution in the Constituent Assembly, there was a serious debate. A part of India which was separated as a result of this Partition Agreement adopted a Constitution where a religion was declared as state religion. In that context we adopted a secular Constitution. Preamble of the Indian Constitution says, "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic". That is the character of Indian state. And to form this state, to unite India into a federation, and to strengthen it...

When India became independent, 50 years prior to that, Indian economy grew at the rate of annual average GDP growth of one per cent. From 1900 to 1950, Indian economy grew at one per cent. In the next 29 years it grew at 3.5 per cent. But in the next 20 years, its average growth was more than six per cent. Last decade it is about eight per cent. Hardly, we could manufacture anything. But the manufacturing base which we have developed over the years is substantial. Rate of literacy was less than one-third. And today it is more than three-fourths even including the UN literacy. Disease, average life expectancy was below 30. Today it is more than double.

Therefore, these are the areas where the founding fathers would surely feel satisfied. But at the same time they will feel not satisfied because we have to reach much a greater height and which we are striving to do.

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Edited excerpts from an interview by President of India
Pranab Mukherjee to Euronews, October 3, 2013