PM Narendra Modi India's most successful administrator since independence: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday (October 27) called Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the most successful administrator India has ever had since independence.

He said that Modi has taken India into a different trajectory in terms of poverty eradication, economic development, national security and foreign policy.

Shah was addressing a conference on “Delivering Democracy: Reviewing two decades of Narendra Modi as head of government”.

“Modi first became chief minister of Gujarat two decades ago without having any administrative experience and proved himself as a successful administrator despite facing a difficult situation at that time,” Shah was quoted as saying by PTI.

He said that during the Manmohan Singh government, there was a “policy paralysis” everywhere and that every member of the cabinet thought themselves as the prime minister while the "prime minister was not considered as prime minister".

“There was no national security policy. India's honour had been lost. There were scams of Rs 12 lakh crore and an impression had been created that Indian democracy will collapse,” he said.

“When the Modi government came in 2014, people started thinking that now things would improve, the system would improve,” he added.

Shah said India's problems are not just of the administration or economic development but its honour has to be protected, the country's culture should be preserved and its security should be ensured.

“For this one has to have a different kind of approach which only a popular leader can have. That leader has to be rooted to the ground and has to know the pain of the poor. Poorest of the poor must get the benefits of development,” he said.

“Even though Narendra Modi considers himself as the 'pradhan sewak', I can say with conviction that he is the most successful administrator the country ever had after independence. He took India to a different level,” Shah said.

Referring to a series of decisions taken by the Modi government in the last seven years, Shah said when demonetisation was announced in 2016, they knew that there was a risk as the Uttar Pradesh assembly election was due but people stood behind Modi and supported the decision.

The people realised that it was announced to check black money and Modi had no other intentions, he said.

The home minister said the law against Triple Talaq, one rank and one pension and creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff were all difficult decisions.

After the anti-terror surgical and air strikes, a message has gone out to the whole world that no one can play any game with India's border.

“You can see it as a bold decision of Narendra Modi or you can see it as a decision of national security. It is a significant move,” he said.

Shah said there was no proper national security policy prior to the Modi government and it was always under the shadow of foreign policy.

“But Narendra Modi has clearly separated the national security policy from the foreign policy. We made it clear that we want friendship but we will not accept any aggression on our sovereignty,” he said.

With the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, the home minister said, Jammu and Kashmir has been completely integrated with the union of India, not a single riot has taken place anywhere in the country and there has been no murmur after the Supreme Court decision on Ram Janmabhoomi.