Vadodara/Ahmedabad (Gujarat), May 16 (IANS) In his first comments after BJP won the Lok Sabha election, party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Friday stressed that his government will take everyone along.
Modi, who addressed a rally in Vadodra and later in Ahmedabad, also took potshots at the UPA government stating that there was vaccuum in governace and a ray of hope had emerged now. He said development should be a mass movement.
In his rally in Vadodra, the constituency which also elected him to parliament besides Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, Modi said that the government belongs to all people of the country.
"The government belongs to all the people of the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kutch to Kamrup," he said days before he will be sworn in as India's next prime minister.
"All the people of this country are ours," he added. "It is our responsibility to take everyone along. A government cannot be of just a few people...Our mission will be 'sabka saath, sabka vikas (all together, development for all)'," he added.
"Our mantra will be inclusive growth," he asserted, speaking in Hindi.
Repeatedly being interrupted by thunderous cries of "Modi, Modi", he was forced to halt at times before continuing with his talk.
In an obvious message directed at the Congress, Modi said that now that the country's most bitterly fought general election had ended, "there are no enemies in politics".
Describing himself as people's "mazdoor number one", he said: "The country will not get a mazdoor like me in the coming 60 months."
Referring to the sweeping BJP win, which is poised to give the party a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha, the Gujarat chief minister said: "I am very grateful to the people of India."
He said the poll verdict was significant because a non-Congress party had gained parliamentary majority on its own for the first time in independent India. It will also be the first time that India will be run by a leadership born after the country's independence, he added.
Modi said he had chosen to first speak in Vadodara after BJP's victory as the city had elected him to the Lok Sabha with a record margin, while Gujarat had created a record by giving all 26 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP.
"There were seven by-polls in Gujarat where six seats were with Congress. Today BJP has won in four," Modi said.
Modi also thanked people of Varanasi, the second seat he contested from, for their support.
In his rally at Ahmedabad, Modi said that the country has again begun its march of development.
"There was a vaccum and in that vacuum emerged a ray of hope and trust," he said.
He said BJP had set the agenda for the polls and its opponents were forced to debate the issue of development.
"Those who wanted to show Modi in bad light they also talked of development issues. May be they said something negative but they spoke of development...Development is the mantra to cure all ills," he said.
Noting Mahatma Gandhi converted the urge among pepole for freedom into a people's movement, he said he wanted to convert development into a people's movement. "Let us forget the past. Let us look ahead and make development a mass movement."
Modi thanked people of state several times in his speech for reposing faith in him, even as he will now be going to Delhi to serve "mother India."
"Your right over me will remain. Just call for me and I will be there," he said.
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