Want to serve Gujarat till 2017: Narendra Modi

 

Ghandinagar, 05 Sep 2013 (PTI): Playing down his prime ministerial aspirations, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he never dreams of holding the top post as he is bound to respect the mandate given to him by the people of his state till 2017.

 

"Those who dream of becoming something end up destroying themselves. One should not dream of becoming something, but one should dream of doing something," Modi said when a student asked him whether he will come and interact with them in 2014 after ’he will become the Prime Minister’.

 

"I never see such dreams (of becoming PM), nor am I going to see such dreams. People of Gujarat have given me a mandate to serve them till 2017 and I have to do this with my full strength," Modi said.

 

The BJP strongman, who is in the race for the party’s PM candidate, was replying to questions asked by students who had gathered at a function for felicitating best teachers of the state on the occasion of Teacher’s Day.

 

Modi shared the dais with state governor Kamla Beniwal at the function for the first time after fresh confrontation between them. Beniwal has returned the controversial Gujarat Lokayukta Bill for reconsideration to the government with stinging remarks.

 

Modi’s comments come at a time when opposition Congress is gunning for his resignation and has given a call for Gujarat bandh on Friday after the explosive resignation letter of suspended IPS officer D G Vanzara and emergence of a sting operation CD involving two BJP MPs allegedly trying to derail the investigation in the Tusli Prajapati encounter case.

 

Asked what prompted him to moot the idea of making ’statue of unity’ of Sardar Patel in the state, Modi said every country in the world had aspired to build something monumental which assures its name in the world and India has nothing to boast of anything like that since independence.

 

"And the work done by Sardar Patel of unifying the country is considered one of the greatest in the world. If we want to keep our nation intact, mantra of unity is important and that gave me the idea to build a statue of unity of Sardar Patel," Modi said.

 

At the function, Ina Solanki from Vadodara asked Modi how many times he gets angry in a day and what he does when he gets angry.

 

"I am a human being and I have all vices which any human being has. However, I don’t get angry but many times I feel pain. Particularly it is very painful for me when people older then me touch my feet," he replied.

 

Modi had informal interactions with school children who posed questions to him on the subjects like how kids can convey their birthday wishes to him, from whom he learnt yoga and in his opinion which were the three most important development works he did in the state of Gujarat.

 

Earlier in his address to the gathering, which comprised mostly teachers, he announced that from the next year his government will also felicitate best teachers down from the pranth level to district and state levels.

 

Taking an indirect dig at the central government, he said, "State government is also intending to increase the amount of awards to these teachers as at present rupee has lost its value. Our rupee has been admitted in ICU (intensive care unit), so we have to increase the amount so that teachers do not feel disheartened."

 

He also appealed to the teachers of the state to focus more on imparting quality education in the state.

 

"Now age of teaching has ended, now its the age of learning. Today for students there is only one guru, Google-guru. Teachers have to compete with this new age guru and unless they focus on imparting quality education no student will value teachers," he said.

 

While congratulating recipients of the best teachers’ awards, Beniwal emphasised on the value of good teachers and their duty to give back to society.