Lucknow: In what appeared to be an attempt to win over the support of people of UP before the upcoming Assembly elections, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today expressed confidence that India will soon become an economic superpower.
Singh further pointed out that in addition to being the fastest growing economy in the world, India has also left behind countries like China and United States in attracting investment in last fiscal.
"India is the fastest growing economy in the world. In the past fiscal, the country witnessed more investment (of about USD 51 billion) than China and the US. The day is not far when our country will become an economic superpower,” Rajnath Singh said while participating in a programme at Charbagh railway station in UP.
Rajnath’s statement is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to persuade the people of UP before upcoming Assembly elections about the success of Modi government’s economic policies.
The party hopes to benefit from the achievements of Modi government on economic front.
"There was negativity for Indian economy before Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In his regime, the growth rate reached 8.4 per cent. In past two years it reached 7.6 per cent from below 6 per cent. In 10 years of UPA regime, there was decline in GDP," he said during a programme at Charbagh railway station here.
Terming the Railways as the "best performing sector", Singh said several lakh crores of rupees were invested in it.
"In the days to come, passengers will get more facilities than those available in developed countries," he said.
Expressing the desire of introducing circular trains in his Lok Sabha constituency here, the Union Minister said, "Railways have to decide, if its feasible."
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said the investment in the sector has grown from Rs 48,000 crore to Rs one lakh crore last year and will be further increased to Rs 1.21 lakh crore.
"The target of the Railways Ministry is to get an investment of Rs 8.5 lakh crore by 2020," he said, adding that projects worth Rs 27,000 crore have been sanctioned for Uttar Pradesh.
On the occasion, RailTel, the telecom arm of the Indian Railway, launched its high speed public wifi service in collaboration with Google.
