Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that India’s waters would flow in the country’s favour, obliquely referring to his government’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in abeyance after the Pahalgam terror attack.
“Ab Bharat ka paani Bharat ke haq mein bahega, Bharat ke haq mein rukega aur Bharat ke hi kaam aayega (Now India’s waters will flow in India’s favour, will stay in India’s favour and will be used for India only),” Modi said while addressing the ABP Network India at 2047 Summit in Delhi.
Though Modi did not directly refer to the water treaty being put in abeyance as part of a series of diplomatic pushbacks against Pakistan after the Pahalgam carnage, he clearly seemed to be referring to it.
“These days, there is a lot of discussion in the media over water,” he remarked with a smile, appearing to refer to India’s decision to stop sharing river water with Pakistan.
Outlining the summit’s theme of India@2047, Modi said his government was moving towards a “GEP-centric” approach to development instead of a GDP-centric approach.
“Instead of a GDP-centric approach, India is moving towards a GEP-centric approach. GEP means Gross Empowerment of People. Means, empowerment of all,” Modi told the summit.
Modi said his government was confident that India would achieve the target of becoming a “viksit (developed)” country in the hundredth year of Independence in 2047. He said the country had the “capability, resources and willpower” to hit the milestone. “Swami Vivekananda used to say, ‘Arise, awake and stop not until the goal is reached’. Today, I see the same feeling in every citizen of the country,” he said.
Modi said his government was working with the vision of “Nation First” and taking bold decisions in every sector. He slammed previous governments for dithering on key decisions. “There was a time when every decision was preceded by the thought whether the world would like it or not, whether it would fetch votes or not,” he said.
“The country cannot move forward like this. The country moves forward when the only criterion for decisions is ‘Nation First’,” he added.
Modi claimed that banks were in a precarious situation during the UPA regime, but made a record profit over the last decade on the backof bold reforms initiated byhis government.
He said India had turned into a manufacturing hub under his government. “We were told that India is not a maker but just a market, but now this tag imposed on India is getting removed. Today, India is becoming the world’s biggest defence manufacturer and exporter. India’s defence products are being exported to more than 100 countries,” he said.
He said India was showing the world that “tradition and technology can thrive together”.
“Today we are among the top countries in digital transactions and at the same time we are taking our yoga and ayurveda to the world,” the Prime Minister said.