Houston: The moment that millions of Indians around the world awaited for weeks finally came when Indian Prime Minister addressed the massive crowd at the NGR Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The Prime Minister spoke in Hindi and highlighted his government’s successes in the past years. He said that he works at the command of the people and says that the response for “Howdy Modi” is that “Everything is fine in India”. He repeats the same words in several Indian languages like Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Bangla, etc.
The crowd cheered on as Modi told the words in their mother tongues. He then said, “Our various languages are an important identity of our liberal and democratic society. For centuries, our nation has been moving forward with dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects. Diversity is the foundation of our vibrant democracy.”
He went on to highlight the biggest achievements of his government by pointing out each of his policies that have transformed the lives of millions of Indians.
The Prime Minister said, “…In five years, we have ensured that 150 million people have got gas connections in India. Rural sanitation is at an all-time high, over 200,000 kms of roads have been constructed in rural areas. In India, less than 50 per cent of the population had bank accounts, today nearly 100 per cent families are availing banking facilities. In five years, 370 million people have opened bank accounts. Friends, today when people have to worry less about basic necessities, they can dream bigger. As the ‘ease of doing business’, ‘ease of living’ is equally significant. It is the way the common man is empowered, and social and economic development will increase drastically.”
Modi also stressed on the importance of Data in today’s world and described how India is home to the cheapest data available.
He said, “Data is available at the cheapest rate in India. Today, 1 GB data costs 25-30 cents, i.e. 1/4th of a dollar. I would also like to tell that the average cost of 1 GB data in the world is 25-30 times higher. This cheap data is the identity of the Digital India. This cheap data has redefined the governnace in India. Today, in India, 10,000 services of the Centre and the state governments are available online. There was a time when getting a passport used to take 2-3 months, today, in less than 1 week, passport comes at home. There was a time when it used to take 2-3 weeks to register a new company. Now, a new company is registered in 24 hours.”
Hinting on Kashmir issue he said that India has said farewell to many evil things and likewise bid farewell to Article 370 which allowed terrorism and separatism to flourish.
Modi said, “India has given farewell to Article 370, which allowed terrorism and separatism to rear its head in Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 was also discriminatory to Dalits and women of the Jammu and Kashmir region. We have done away with that now.”
In a veiled attack against Pakistan, Narendra Modi said, “India’s decision on Article 370 has troubled some people, who can’t handle their country, who support terrorism. Their politics is hatred towards India and they harbour and promote terrorism. You and the entire world knows who they are. Where do you find conspirators of 9/11 and 26/11 terror attacks? It’s time for decisive battle against terrorism”
Before ending his speech, Narendra Modi, extended his invitation to President Donald Trump and asked him to visit India with his family.
