PTI
New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday opened up on a host of foreign affairs issues as he stressed that cooperation between India and China is essential for global peace and prosperity and called out Pakistan’s links to global terrorism, accusing Islamabad of responding with hostility to his attempts to rebuild ties.
In an interaction lasting over three hours with US-based popular podcaster and computer scientist Lex Fridman, Modi said he and US President Donald Trump connect well as both put their respective countries first and asserted that their mutual trust remained unshaken even when the Republican leader was out of office during Joe
Biden’s presidency.
The Prime Minister also touched on various aspects of his life journey, praising the Hindutva organisation RSS for instilling patriotic values in him, lauding Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and describing himself as a peacemaker who has nudged both Russian and Ukrainian leaders to come to the negotiating table.
He said normalcy has returned to the India-China border after his recent talks with President Xi Jinping to defuse tensions ignited by the 2020 clashes between the two armies in
eastern Ladakh.
Sounding optimistic about the ties between the world’s two most populous countries, he said differences between neighbours are natural and emphasised the ancient cultural ties between them when the two civilisations learnt from each other and had
little conflict.
Asserting that their efforts are aimed at ensuring that their differences do not turn into disputes and preferring dialogue over discord, he said the two countries once contributed over 50 per cent of the global GDP.
“Our cooperation is not only (mutually) beneficial but also essential for global peace and
prosperity,” he said.
Turning to Pakistan, the Prime Minister said he took the initiative of inviting its leader to attend his swearing-in ceremony in 2014 and then travelled to Lahore in 2015, but his efforts only drew negative reactions from the
neighbouring country.
“Yet, every noble attempt at fostering peace was met with hostility and betrayal,” he said, expressing the hope that wisdom will dawn on Pakistan and it will shun the path of terrorism.
Pakistan has since Independence waged a proxy war against India and the trail of every terror incident in the world goes back to that country, he said, noting that Osama bin Laden was also hiding there.
Asked what he likes about Trump, Modi recalled that the US
President during his first term had ignored security protocol and agreed to his request to take a lap around the stadium hosting the ‘Howdy Modi’ event
in Houston.
“I was touched by his courage and his trust in me,” he said, noting that Trump conveyed similar courage following the assassination attempt on him during the presidential campaign.
On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Modi said it will only be resolved when both sides join the negotiation table, asserting that there can never be a resolution on the battlefield.
To a question about the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat when he was the chief minister, he said it was an attempt to create a false narrative to target him, and his political opponents in power at the Centre wanted him to be punished. The courts, however, cleared his name, he said.
Modi said the perception that the 2002 riots were the biggest riots ever in Gujarat was an attempt to push misinformation.
“If you review the data from before 2002, you will see that Gujarat faced frequent riots. Curfews were constantly being imposed somewhere. Communal violence would erupt over trivial issues such as kite-flying contests or even bicycle collisions,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the riots in Gujarat in 1969 lasted for more than six months, and that was an era when he was nowhere on the political horizon.
Modi said the Godhra train burning incident took place barely three days after he was elected as a legislator of the Gujarat assembly.
He said that a fake narrative was spread regarding the Godhra case.
“But, the courts investigated the matter thoroughly and found us completely innocent. Those who were truly responsible have faced justice from the courts,” he said.
