Jaishankar: Markets will be less volatile with every round of polls

“Countries don’t go forward on auto pilot, you need a leader, a vision, and a policy. Our message in this election is very clear that if you want to see your country do well, please strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. On the economic front, Jaishankar said that he expects investments in the country, including from foreign players, to pick up pace after June 4, when the outcome of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are announced. “I have every confidence that we will not only have a strong and a stable government but will have a government with a stronger majority, and therefore, with a greater ability to take decisions which will take this country forward,” he said at an event in Mumbai.

He said a base has already been created over the last decade and that will allow the government to think much more ambitiously and boldly for the country in the third term. “I think a lot of people are looking at June 4. They will see those numbers and that will strengthen their resolve to invest in this economy. I definitely see much more foreign investments coming in. Right now, everybody is like let June 4 happen and then I would take a call,” he said.

To a question on recent volatility in the domestic stock market, the minister said it will reduce with every phase of the Lok Sabha elections. “To me, it is very clear where the election is going. I am very sure that as round after round takes place, the market will be less and less volatile because the market will get a sense of where those numbers will end up. I am very confident that those numbers will end up very good for us,” he said.

On the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Jaishankar said the trade pact with the European Union is the most difficult and complex one as there are a lot of non-trade issues involved in it. He said that the government is very serious about pushing it.

Jaishankar also criticised the Congress party for holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s actions, in the land disputes with China. “Indian land was taken by China between 1958 and 1962. Some of it was before 1958 also. When you say land was taken by China, please understand this land was lost in 1962. I see efforts made to mislead the country,” Jaishankar said when asked about plans to deal with China, which is occupying land in Ladakh.

He said people are saying the Chinese are building villages on the border but these villages are being built at Longju, which the Chinese attacked and occupied in 1959. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress talk about the bridge in Pangong Tso in Ladakh but it is being built in a place where the Chinese came in 1958 and retook it in 1962. “The Congress party is holding Modi responsible for Nehru’s action in 1949 and for Bhutto’s action in 1963, but apparently they have no culpability,” Jaishankar said.