India has proved democracy can also deliver high economic growth: S Jaishankar

“There are a number of countries where economic recovery is not there post Covid pandemic. But we are growing at close to seven per cent post-Covid and the world is thinking that this is a miracle indeed. And this is not only about growth but also about inclusive India,” Jaishankar said while talking about GDP growth in India.

The event was organised by the Rashtriya Ekta Manch, a forum of prominent residents of Rajkot.

Citing his experience of travelling four to five countries every month and an average 40 countries annually, Jaishankar, a career diplomat-turned-politician asserted that India is a democracy that delivers.

“I went to a country where they distribute ration (like India does through its public distribution system). They told me that a lot of leakages are happening there also. I told them that there are two technologies (to plug them)—one is digital technology and the other technology is Modi,” Jaishankar said to a round of applause. “I want to tell you that this is the democracy that delivers. The good governance that we have had has a tremendous impact on the world.”

Jaishankar, who joined the BJP in May, 2019, and became India’s external affairs minister after retiring as its foreign secretary in January 2018, said that thanks to good governance, the Modi government was running welfare schemes of scale. He cited examples such as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana to provide free ration, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to provide affordable housing, Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana to provide subsidised cooking gas connections.

“Thanks to improvement in governance and the digital backbone that has been created, you look at the scale of government schemes… Think about Anna Yojana, whose beneficiaries are 80 crore people… Eighty crore means you are providing ration to the entire Europe and America… The number of Mudra loan beneficiaries are, I think, 41-42 crores. The number of beneficiaries of those who have got housing over the past 10 years is around 20 crores if we factor in their family members… This means you have provided houses to entire Japan and Germany. Ujjawala scheme has reached 90 crore people,” he said. “In the past decade, 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty.”

Jaishankar, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, said that no one would have believed in 2014 that India would undergo such change in the next decade under the leadership of Modi.

“No one would have trusted if someone said that it was our destiny that we shall have a prime minister who shall feed the entire Europe and America, provide housing to Japan and Germany and would replace firewood with gas cylinders in every kitchen in France and England taken together. But this is the change,” he said.

Jaishankar further said the change also reflected in the way the world now perceived India. “The change that is coming and which has already happened has had a very strong impact on the world and I can tell you this because, being the foreign minister, I get opportunity to visit four to five countries every month, talk to other people and assess the mood of the world—what people used to think of us earlier and what they are thinking now. I can tell you that the change which has happened in the country is also reflected in the world’s perception,” he said.

“As per tradition, lots of people, including presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers go to the UN (headquarters) in New York every year. Two years ago, when Covid-19 had subsided, some ministers came to me and suggested that we organise some event in New York where those countries who had got the Indian vaccine can acknowledge it publicly. I remember the Jamaican foreign minister, who is a woman, lifting her sleeve and saying “I carry India inside me”.

Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha seats, including Rajkot, will vote in the general elections on May 7.

Jaishankar said that during the election, people elect their leaders for delivering services on the ground and their vision for the country. He added that during Modi’s time as prime minister, India had seen not only vision but delivery on the ground, laying the foundation to make it a developed (viksit) country by 2047.

“While making up their mind, people think what is the delivery on the ground and secondly, what is vision-leadership for the country. Over the past 10 years, we have seen delivery on the ground and vision-leadership also. I feel that it is certainly our destiny that we, India, will march towards Viksit Bharat during Amrit Kaal… In the next 20-25 years, we don’t only want to make a Viksit Bharat but also an inclusive India wherein we want to take along every section and class,” he said.