Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday, 27 January, said political leaders who sell dreams to people but fail to make them a reality get "beaten up" by the public.
The minister, who handles a host of infrastructure-related portfolios in the Modi government, asserted he is a doer and delivers on his promises.
“People like (political) leaders who show them dreams. But if these dreams are not fulfilled, then the public beats them up as well.”Nitin Gadkari, Union minister
"I am not the one who only sells dreams, but I deliver 100 percent what I talk about," he said.
Gadkari, a former BJP president, also spoke about his stint as Maharashtra's PWD minister when the Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power (1995-99) in the state.
"The mediapersons in Mumbai know what kind of a person I am as they have seen how I complete projects. They do trust me," said the 61-year-old politician from Nagpur.
“People used to laugh at me when I, as PWD minister, used to claim that I was going to build over 50 flyovers in Mumbai, and bring down the travel time between Mumbai and Pune to merely two hours (via 91-km expressway). I was ridiculed but I proved them wrong and completed every project I had promised.”Nitin Gadkari, Union minister
At the function, Bollywood actor Isha Koppikar joined the BJP and was made working president of the party's women transport wing.
In December, Gadkari said at an event in Pune that leadership should have the tendency to own up defeat and failures.
The remarks had come days after the BJP's dismal show in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections.
As the comments created a controversy, Gadkari said his statements had been twisted and alleged “there was a sinister campaign by some opposition parties and a section of the media to twist” his comments and “draw politically motivated inferences to malign” him and his party.
Following this, in December, at the annual Intelligence Bureau (IB) Endowment Lecture, Gadkari had said, “If I am the party president and my MPs and MLAs are not doing well, then who is responsible? I am.”
At the valedictory function of the annual Marathi literary meet at Yavatmal on January 13, Gadkari said politicians should not interfere in other fields.
The meet was embroiled in a controversy after an invitation to writer Nayantara Sahgal was withdrawn apparently under pressure from a political party.
Without making a direct reference to the row, Gadkari had said, "Politicians should learn not to interfere in other fields. The people who are in universities, educational institutions, literature and poetry, they should be dealing with their (respective) areas."
‘Gadkari Showing You the Mirror’
Gadkari’s remarks evoked sharp reactions from the Opposition, with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi saying that the leader was showing a mirror to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mumbai Congress Committee President Sanjay Nirupam said that the Union minister’s comments was an attack on Modi.
RJD leader Manoj K Jha, meanwhile, expressed shock at Gadkari’s comments.
AICC Joint Secretary Ruchi Gupta said that Gadkari’s remarks reflected ‘Modi’s loosening hold’.
(With inputs from PTI)
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