Targeting US President Donald Trump over the doubling of tariffs and for calling India a “dead” economy, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, without taking names, said Sunday that “there are some people” who think they are “Sabke Boss” and, because “they do not like the rapid development of India”, are trying to make Indian goods expensive. He is the first senior minister of the Modi government to target the Trump administration following the US President’s unilateral action against India in the middle of negotiations for a trade deal. Speaking in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district where he laid the foundation stone of the Rs 1,800-crore BEML rail hub manufacturing unit, Singh said, “When we used to say that we would become the world’s largest economy, people used to make fun of us. They used to laugh. Today, the entire world has accepted that India is moving forward fastest in the world under Modi’s leadership. Everyone has accepted this reality.” “Kuch log hain, jo Bharat ka vikas jitni teji ke saath ho raha hai, unhe raas nahin aa raha hai. Unhe achcha nahin lag raha hai: Sabke Boss toh hum hain, Bharat kaise itni teji ke saath badh raha hai? (There are some people who do not like the rapid development of India. They don’t like it: We are the boss of everyone, how is India growing so rapidly?),” he said. He said there is an effort to make India-made products expensive so that they are not bought by consumers in other countries. “There are many who are trying to do something so that when things made by Indians in India go to other countries, they become more expensive than things made in those countries… When things made by Indians on Indian soil become expensive, people in other parts of the world will not buy them. This effort is being made,” he said. Singh said “the speed at which India is moving forward… no power in the world can now stop India from becoming a major power in the world”. He cited the example of India’s rising defence exports. “Our condition in the defence sector was such that earlier almost everything was made in other countries of the world. They were made by foreigners. Their capital was invested. And when we needed something, we used to go and buy everything from other countries of the world. Whether it was aircraft, weapons, platforms, whatever, we used to buy everything from other countries. Now, we are not only making many of these things on Indian soil. not only are we fulfilling our own needs, but we are also exporting to other countries… Countries of the world are buying our goods.” In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his first term, Singh said India’s defence exports were Rs 600 crore. “You will be happy to know now we are exporting defence items worth more than Rs 24,000 crore. This is India’s strength. This is the new defence sector of the new India, and exports are continuously increasing.” He said the youth of the country are using technology to make “many of our defence-related weapons, platforms, bombs, cannons, shells and missiles”.
