Taking a jibe at previous governments for continuing with two Constitutions in one country — a reference to the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called them “tubelight” and mentioned that the situation was corrected after 70 years.
Addressing the Indian community in Berlin, Modi said, “Desh ek thhe, samvidhan do thhe…. Kyun itni der lagi. Purane zamane mein kehte thhe tubelight (It is one country, but there were two Constitutions…. Why did it take so long? Earlier, this was called tubelight).”
“Saat dashak ho gaye ek desh, ek samvidhan lagu karte karte. Ab laagu hua hai doston (it has taken seven decades to have a single Constitution for the entire country…it has been implemented now),” he said.
The Prime Minister's hour-long address to the Indian community was peppered with slogans of ‘Modi, Modi’, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai’, and ‘2024, Modi Once More’ by an ecstatic crowd gathered at the Theater Am Postdamer Platz.
Although Modi started his address, saying: “I have not come here to talk about me or the Modi sarkaar,” the people seemed to want more of the PM even as he heaped praises on a ‘New India’.
Modi took a dig at the Congress as he yet again highlighted that his BJP government was making sure that maximum benefits were reaching the country’s people. "Woh kaunsa panja tha jo 85 paise ghis leta tha (which claw was it that used to take away the 85 paise),” the prime minister said as he addressed a 1,600 plus crowd of Indian community members.
He was referring to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s remarks, which has also been cited by the Supreme Court in the past, that only a small fraction of what the country earned reached people’s pockets. This comment has been cited by the BJP several times to highlight its achievement of making sure that people benefit from the country’s development.
"Today the way technology is being included in governance in India, it shows the political will of New India...Now no PM will have to say that I send Re 1 from Delhi but only 15 paise reaches (people)," PM Modi said on Monday.
Modi, who left Germany for Denmark on Tuesday, will also take part in the 2nd India-Nordic Summit along with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway where we will take stock of our cooperation since the First India-Nordic Summit in 2018.
The Summit will focus on subjects like post-pandemic economic recovery, climate change, innovation and technology, renewable energy, the evolving global security scenario and India-Nordic cooperation in the Arctic region, a statement by the PMO said.
