Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that previous governments did not take full advantage of India’s potential, citing as an example Congressional Speaker Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli Lok Sabha railway car factory in constituency.
Stating that “it takes a positive mindset and approach to change things,” he stressed the realization of “our full potential to ensure the development of the nation.”
The Prime Minister spoke on the founding day of the centennial of Lucknow University via a video link on Wednesday.
“For a long time, it has been a problem that we have not used our full potential. In the past, it was also true for the governance of our country. We have tried to change this after coming to power, ”he said.
“The Rae Bareli Wagon Factory is an example of how we can change things by changing our perspective. The factory was set up many years ago and had all the machinery to make train cars, but only dent painting (maintenance) was done there. Big promises were made for the factory, but nothing changed. When we came to power in 2014, we looked at matters and within six months the factory started making railroad cars. Now it is one of the largest coach manufacturers in the country, ”he said.
The prime minister also cited urea production in the country to underscore his point.
“I was surprised to learn that despite having enough urea plants, the country was importing urea just because our plants were not operating at their full potential. Previous governments hadn’t done much to change this. When we came to power, we made changes and now the country has become self-sufficient in urea, ”he said.
Willpower and good intentions were equally important as capabilities, he said.
He also spoke about his experience popularizing khadi with the help of students in Gujarat through a fashion show in Porbandar at Gandhi Jayanti in 2002.
This made khadi “fashionable,” he said, adding that the amount of khadi sold in the past six years was greater than that sold in 20 years prior to 2014.
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