Dhankhar on PM’s journey: ‘Rocket that took off in 2014 is in space now’

Calling the country’s rise “incremental”, Dhankhar said: “India is no longer a sleeping giant…(but) a sleeping elephant on the rise”.“The rise is unstoppable… incremental.” he stated.

Talking about nation’s efforts towards peace, he said: “The world is stunned that India is heading towards a peaceful mechanism…a peaceful environment. Earlier, J&K didn’t have a good situation. When I went there as a minister, I couldn’t even see a dozen people on road. And last year, two crore people visited there as tourists.”

Delegates during the 4th Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo in Gandhinagar. (Image Source: Gujarat government)

Referring to digital penetration, the V-P said it has “reached to an unmatched level” in the country. “Every village has it. Our direct transfers are more than 50 per cent of global transactions. The per capita internet consumption is more than that of China and the US taken together.” “…if India takes lead.. if PM Modi gives a clarion call, he means it. He thinks ahead of time. And we can tackle the climate menace only by thinking ahead. ”

“In every significant period of history, Gujarat has shown the path to the world and our nation in particular. There was a time when Mahatma Gandhi dominated the discourse of peace and non-violence from this land. When Bharat got Independence. There was another set of challenges and yet again, a great son of soil from Gujarat, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel rose up to it and now Narendra Modi is dominating global discourse,” he added.

Talking about the climate crisis, the Vice-President said: “Suddenly, the entire world has awakened to reality… that climate change is an existential challenge”. “The global scenario at the moment is marked by disturbance. Bharat has taken the lead (in terms of climate change). Bharat has a civilisation depth of 5000 years. Our knowledge about climate change emanates from our Vedas and Upanishads, and therefore a change was initiated from this land,” he said.

“When we take on the climate change issue, we have to create an ecosystem where there is holistic involvement of all and that is why due to Modi’s visionary leadership, our country took the lead during G20,” he added.

He also talked about how the country made efforts to make the African Union a part of the G20 and gave voice to the Global South. “Voice was lent to Global South by Prime Minister Modi and the event for which was organised in this country,” he said.

Referring to the 4th global renewable energy meet, the Vice-President said: “Interest in renewable energy is not optional. It is compulsive. We will have to take interest in this because this concerns our existence, and therefore the meet has the potential to be a powerful catalyst for action… an action that is the need of the hour.The damages should be arrested, and repairs should start.”