PM interview: 'UPA pushed farmers to commit suicide'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with Doordarshan and Rajya Sabha TV on Monday night, defended demonetisation and his government’s performance while launching scathing attacks on the Opposition parties.

Here are some excerpts:

On demonetisation: "Proved that we had taken the right step".
“The people who had money stashed in bags faced hardships and started crying. But it has been proved that we had taken the right step. It (the move) gave an impetus to the formal economy,” the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Twitter account quoted Modi as saying in the interview.

On Rafale and the Congress Nyay scheme: "Rahul Gandhi alleging a scam in the Rafale jet deal to “wash the sins of his father.”

“For the past six months, he [Rahul Gandhi] has been making it an issue without any proof...UPA cheated farmers and pushed them to commit suicide...Congress has done injustice to the nation...it’s important that people should not start speaking against the country while speaking against Modi...in a country where thousands of its soldiers have been martyred, shouldn’t that be an election issue? If farmers die, then it is an election issue, but when soldiers die, then it is not an election issue? Can the Congress ensure justice for the Sikh community? Dynastic politics is the most dangerous thing for a democracy.”

On Kashmir politics: Both National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have become “outdated”
“They (NC and PDP leaders) have used the same language always, they have done emotional blackmail…now they have become outdated and people are not ready to recognise them as leaders,” said the PM on alleged calls for a separate prime ministerial post for the state.

He said that over 70 per cent polling was recorded after parties of both former Jammu & Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mufti Mehbooba had called for a boycott of the polls.

On UP Politics: "People there understand politics well"

“The people there understand politics well,” said Modi. The prime minister pointed out the results of the SP-Congress alliance during the previous Assembly elections in 2017 - the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance won 54 seats while the BJP bagged 312 in the 403-seat Assembly. ​

On BJP’s chances in the elections: "Unprecedented wave of support"

Modi said there was an “unprecedented wave of support...I have not seen this even in 2014.”

On foreign relations: "Now we are players"

“India has made its place in the world. Earlier, we were only spectators, now we are players.”