India to be a superpower by 2020: Vajpayee - timesofindia-economictimes
India to be a superpower by 2020: Vajpayee
TNNApr 5, 2004, 01.14am IST
NEW DELHI: Basking in the ``achievements'' of his government in the past five years, highlighted by the India Shining campaign, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee now dreams of making India a developed nation by 2020.
Mr Vajpayee, in an interview to Newsweek, outlined his NDA government's achievements while making out a case for another five-year term at the Centre. ``People have seen our performance and are satisfied. We have earned their trust. We have also placed before them our vision and priorities for the future. By and large, the mood in the country is that our government has not yet had sufficient time to accomplish its agenda and, therefore, deserves another five-year term,'' he said in the interview.
Mr Vajpayee reeled out the reasons why the people were feeling good, a theme appropriated by the BJP and its allies in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. ``What we have achieved in IT, telecom, highway construction, the nationwide rural roads program, and the spread of elementary education has no parallel in the past,'' he told the interviewers. He also listed among the government's major achievements political stability and peace and normalisation of relations with Pakistan, saying that was ``unthinkable earlier.'' ``All this has raised India's standing in the eyes of the world community,'' he claimed.
When asked what was the biggest achievement of his government, Mr Vajpayee replied: ``Without sounding immodest, I think we have succeeded in elevating India's aspirations and its capacity to pursue and achieve big goals. What sounded difficult or impossible even a few years ago is looking possible today.'' He said that ``in the next five-ten years, India will be in a completely different orbit of development. Muslims joining the BJP is another instance of the impossible becoming possible."
When asked if he had a new vision for India, Mr Vajpayee said it was to see India become ``a developed nation by 2020 _a nation that is economically strong, free of the problems of underdevelopment and playing a meaningful role in the world as befits a nation of over one billion people.''
He asserted that sectarian violence like the one Gujarat witnessed in 2002 would not occur again. ``It is now the entire nation's resolve not to let such tragedies recur.''.
On Kashmir, the BJP veteran said the ``biggest obstacle'' to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute was ``mistrust and suspicion.''
