Any talk of changing Constitution is meaningless, PM Modi says in a rare interview

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, December 21

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that “any talk of amending the Constitution is meaningless” and maintained that ties with the US were on an upward trajectory despite US federal prosecutors alleging an Indian link in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

“Regarding the best words to describe this relationship, I leave it to you. Today, the India-US relationship is broader in engagement, deeper in understanding, warmer in friendship than ever before,” he said.

On the Hamas-Israel conflict, the PM said he was in touch with the leaders in the region and said India is willing to do everything to take forward efforts towards peace.

The PM sidestepped a question on the recent relaxation of US-China tensions, saying they are “best addressed by the people and governments of America and China”.

On plans to amend the Constitution and democratic backsliding, the PM, in a rare interview to the London-based Financial Times, said, “Our critics are entitled to their opinions and the freedom to express them. However, there is a fundamental issue with such allegations, which often appear as criticisms. These claims not only insult the intelligence of the Indian people but also underestimate their deep commitment to values like diversity and democracy.”

Later in the interview, he said, many aims “have been realised without amending the Constitution but through public participation”.

When asked what future the Muslim minority has in India, Modi pointed to the economic success of India’s Parsis, as per an impressionistic interview released by the FT.

“Despite facing persecution elsewhere in the world, they have found a safe haven in India, living happily and prospering. That shows that the Indian society itself has no feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority,” he elaborated.

The PM had a “long and hearty laugh” before answering a question about the Centre’s alleged crackdown on his critics. “There is a whole ecosystem that is using the freedom available in our country to hurl these allegations at us every day, through editorials, TV channels, social media, videos, tweets, etc. They have the right to do so. But others have an equal right to respond with facts,” he said.

The PM then suggested that the criticism overseas about narrowing of democratic space in India was as misinformed as the West’s earlier perception about India. “In 1947, when India became independent, the British made a lot of dire predictions about India’s future. But we have seen that those predictions and preconceptions have all been proven false,” he said and suggested that those who today doubt his government “will also be proven wrong”.

Describing his official residence complex past a “cordon of airport-style security” as one of “parading peacocks and inner courtyards with ornate flower displays”, the FT team had access to a meeting room that had maps of the world painted on the ceiling and the cabinet room where lines from the Preamble to the Constitution were inscribed.

PM Modi insisted that he was “very confident of victory” due to “solid change in the common man’s life”.

“They realise that our nation is on the cusp of a take-off. They want this flight to be expedited, and they know the best party to ensure this is the one that had brought them this far,” said the PM who, the FT team said, was dressed in a cream kurta and rust-coloured sleeveless jacket, and immaculately barbered and manicured.

He identified the “most transformative steps” as “Clean India” and digital public infrastructure push.

“The world is interconnected as well as interdependent,” he said while outlining India’s “mix-and-match foreign policy”.

Putting national interest foremost “allows us to engage with various nations in a manner that respects mutual interests and acknowledges the complexities of contemporary geopolitics”.

The PM also batted away criticism about the slow pace of employment generation by citing unemployment data gathered by the Periodic Labour Force Survey, which points to “a consistent decline in unemployment rates”.

“When evaluating different performance parameters like productivity and infrastructure expansion, it becomes evident that employment generation in India, a vast and youthful nation, has indeed accelerated,” he added.

He also did not agree about extensive corruption by stating that India wouldn’t have achieved the status of the world’s fastest-growing economy “if the issues you’ve highlighted were as pervasive as suggested”.

On the flight of skilled people abroad, the PM said India’s goal should be to create such an environment in India that it naturally gets people to have a stake in India.

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