Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those who could not bring any real change in the lives of the poor or even open bank accounts for them during their five-decade rule were now questioning his government.
In an oblique reference to the Congress, the Prime Minister on his first trip to his Lok Sabha constituency in over eight months, claimed poverty alleviation measures so far have lacked a proper direction and became a “tradition” only during elections.
Praising his “Jan Dhan Yojana”, Modi said if the earlier governments had helped the poor open bank accounts, they would have been spared the worry about operation of the recently opened accounts under the scheme.
What these people could not do in 50 years, I will do in 50 months,”
Modi said.
He said a lot was talked about ‘garibi hatao’ for the last 40-50 years. In elections also it has been a plank. But till now all experiments to uplift the economic status of the poor in the country have not yielded the desired results.
“We have not been able to bring the desired changes in the lives of the poor,” the Prime Minister said and added, “I don’t want to blame any government, but want to focus on things that the poor can come out of poverty.”
Modi stressed on skill development and said technology can help poor earn more and become self-reliant.
