Shun terrorism & protectionism: PM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today eschewed Pakistan and Kashmir while speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York. Instead, he sought to demonstrate how India’s domestic and foreign initiatives are in line with the key objectives of the United Nations.

“All Indian Government’s initiatives are centred on fulfilling the dreams of its 1.3 billion citizens. The efforts are ours but the fruits are for all. This conviction of mine gets stronger everyday when I think of those countries which like India are striving for development in their own ways. When I see their joys and sorrows, when I get to know their dreams, my resolve to develop the country at a faster pace gets stronger so that India’s experience can be beneficial to these countries too,” he observed during a brief 18-minute address in Hindi.

PM Modi began by pointing out the magnitude and meaning of his second General Election victory and quickly moved on to recounting those of his government’s achievements that are the largest or the biggest in the world.  He listed “Swachh Bharat”, the world’s biggest sanitation campaign, health insurance scheme, also the world’s biggest giving, Jan Dhan, the biggest financial inclusion scheme in the world, and digital identification programme which has checked leakages of about $20 billion.

“These successes will bring confidence to people elsewhere because when a developing country achieves this, it gives the world a new hope. The need for this public policy is not confined within the borders of India, nor is it an expression of piety but inspired by a sense of duty alone. We believe that this is one of the biggest challenges not for any single country but the entire world and humanity,” the PM added.

In the next five years, India aims to be free of single-use plastic, besides promoting water conservation, ensuring water supply to 15 crore homes, building 20 million houses for the poor and 1,25,000 km of new roads. “The question that arises is how have we achieved all these rapid changes?” PM Modi asked

before informing the audience that the underpinning was India’s thousands of years of culture that encompassed universal dreams. “We see divinity in every being. The vision is not for India but for the entire world. That is the reason we draw inspiration from our motto of collective growth,” he explained.

He wanted the world to not just shun terrorism but protectionism too for the sake of humanity and pointed out that the largest number of supreme sacrifices for UNPK missions has been from India. “The lack of unanimity among us on the issue of terrorism dents the principles that led to the creation of the UN. We belong to a country that has given Buddha’s message of peace, and that is why our voice against terrorism to alert the world rings with seriousness and outrage,” he said before shifting to protectionism.

“The face of the world is changing. Modern technology is bringing about sweeping changes in social life, personal life, economy connectivity and international ties. In such a situation, a fragmented world is not in the interest of anyone. Nor do we have the option to confine ourselves within the boundaries, we have to give a new direction to multilateralism and UN,” the PM observed.

He touched on the new global platforms that India has come forward to build and sought collective efforts to combat the serious challenges these were aimed at countering. Though India’s contribution to global warming is low, it is one of the leading nations in taking steps to address this issue. 

Indian-Americans protest ‘anti-minorities govt’ 

• Several Indian-Americans massed outside the UN headquarters protested against “anti-poor and anti-minority” Modi government, according to Coalition Against Fascism in India.
• Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights said: “We will keep raising our Hindu voice of protest. As Hindus, as Indians, and as people of conscience, we say ‘Not In Our Name’.”

22 Congressmen’s letter for steps to end tensions 

At least 22 US Congressmen have written to their Ambassador in UN, Kelly Craft, calling for steps to prevent further escalation of India-Pakistan conflict. The joint letter by the Congressmen wanted Washington to use the full weight of the US mission to the UN to encourage India and Pakistan to bilaterally mitigate tensions. TNS

The lack of unanimity among us on the issue of terrorism dents the principles that led to the creation of the UN... a fragmented world is not in the interest of anyone 

Nor do we have the option to confine ourselves within boundaries, we have to give a new direction to multilateralism and UN

PM Narendra Modi at UN