Brussels: Pitching strongly for delinking religion from terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that terrorism is a problem faced by the entire mankind and not just by a particular nation.
Addressing a boisterous gathering of Indian diaspora here, Prime Minister Modi began his speech by paying homage to the victims of the Brussels terror attack.
“So many nations have suffered due to terrorism. Terrorism is not a threat that any one nation faces, it is problem faced by mankind,” he said.
“Terrorism must be de-linked from religion. No religion teaches terrorism. This message resonated from the World Sufi Forum held in Delhi,” he added.
The Prime Minister also called on the international community to unite against terrorism, asserting that India has been facing this menace for the last 40 years.
“India has been battling terrorism for decades. But the rest of the world recognized the danger only after 9/11.World has now realized the threat of terrorism. When India used tell the world about terrorism, the world used tell us that it is a law and order problem,” he said.
Divulging details of various schemes launched by his government and their impact on the day-to-day lives of the people, Prime Minister Modi said that it is his responsibility to give public an account of his work.
“Let me give you a record of the work we have done in 2015, because it is my responsibility to give a record our work to public. Our campaign on gas subsidy led to 9 million people surrendering their subsidy, helping millions of poor families to get gas connections,” he said.
He said that the government’s decision to transfer LPG subsidy directly to bank accounts had paid rich dividends, adding that around Rs.14-15, 000 crores that was being stolen earlier was saved.
“There was record output of coal in 2015. Also record production of electricity and record cargo handled at major ports. Our decision to have 5% ethanol in petrol led to record production of ethanol in 2015 leading to better income for farmers,” he said.
“Our Jan Dhan Yojana has led to 210 million new accounts, bringing millions into the banking sector,” he added.
He also said that India has emerged as lone light of hope amid the global recession.
He said the government had done a remarkable job in electrifying the villages, adding that all the villages in the nation would be electrified within the next 1000 days.
“When we assumed office we discovered that there is no electricity in about 18,000 villages. Is this proper.. 18000 villages in India are still without electricity. We will bring them electricity within 1000 days. 7000 have already been electrified,” he said.
“There is an App- Garv which tells you about rural electrification,” he added.
Asserting that his government had made tremendous advances in solar energy, Prime Minister Modi said that a target of 175 GW of renewable energy is achievable.
Prime Minister Modi, who arrived in Brussels today for the first leg of his three nation tour, also attended a working dinner earlier with top EU leaders, including European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker and President of the European council Donald Tusk.
He witnessed the signing of loan agreement between the Lucknow Metro and the European Investment Bank at the 13th India-European Union (EU) Summit, which was held to discuss trade, investment, and technology partnership between India and the E.U.
The Prime Minister also held talks with the board members of the Association of Diamond Traders on the sidelines of the summit.