Terming democracy as a great legacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his world exclusive interview to CNN said that it is only due to India's inherent strength that a person like him born in a poor family has been able to become the PM of the country.
Speaking on the need of development of the country, he stressed on the girl child's education and also on the need to ensure the safety of the girl child. He said that the dignity of women is a collective effort and not an issue which should be politicised by leaders in his first interview after assuming the office of the Prime Minister.
PM Modi also asserted that India and China are at par when it comes to economic growth and claimed that this era belongs to India and China. However, he maintained that India doesn't need to become anything else. "India must become only India. This is a country that once upon a time was called the golden bird. We've fallen from where we were before. But now we have the chance to rise again," he said.
Claiming that he has a clear road map in mind to channel the skills and capabilities of a young India, he said, "It's my absolute belief that Indians have unlimited talent. I have no doubt about our capabilities. I have a lot of faith in the entrepreneurial nature of our 1.25 billion people. There is a lot of capability."
Reacting to al Qaeda head Al Zawahiri issuing a video message directed towards India and warning about creating a similar outfit in the country to "free Muslims from the oppression they face", PM Modi said that the terror outfit is delusional if its leaders think that Indian Muslims will dance to their tune. "Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India. They will not want anything bad for India," he said with confidence.
Speaking on the possibility of a geniune strategic alliance between India and US, he said, "there are many similarities between India and America, if you look at the last few centuries two things come into light. America has absorbed people from around the world and there is an Indian in every part of the world," Modi said ahead of his visit to the US.
He, however, admitted that there have been ups and downs in the Indo-US relationship in the last century "but from the end of the 20th century to the first decade of 21st century we have witnessed a big change. Our ties have deepened. India and USA are bound together by history and by culture, these ties will deepen further," he claimed.
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