New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that all the talk about his government wanting to change the secular character of the country is not true, and that the government is focussed on development. In an interview to an international English daily on Wednesday, PM Modi refuted the claims made by the Opposition.

The interview was conducted at the prime minister’s official residence and principal workplace situated on 7, Lok Kalyan Marg aka 7LKM (formerly known as Race Course Road) in New Delhi.

“Any talk of amending the Constitution is meaningless,” said PM Modi, emphasising that his government is focussed on development. 

The PM explained that the “most transformative steps” undertaken by his government, such as the Clean India (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) and Digital India movements, “have been realised without amending the Constitution” and simply through “public participation”.

Our nation is on the cusp of a take-off: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi further said he is “very confident of victory” in the General Elections in 2024, because his government has brought about “solid change in the common man’s life”.

“Today, the people of India have very different aspirations from the ones they had 10 years back,” the PM elaborated. “They realise that our nation is on the cusp of a take-off. They want this flight to be expedited, and they know the best party to ensure this is the one which brought them this far.”

Minorities living happily and prospering in India: Modi

On the future of the Muslim minority in India, PM Modi talked about the economic success of the other minority in India, the Parsi community.

Addressing the Parsis as a “religious micro-minority residing in India”, the prime minister said, “Despite facing persecution elsewhere in the world, they have found a safe haven in India, living happily and prospering. That shows that the Indian society itself has no feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority.” 

On April 28, 2014, before he was elected in his first term as the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi had tweeted, “We are secular not because the word was added in our Constitution. Secularism is in our blood. We believe in Sarva Pantha Sambhava.”

 We are secular not because the word was added in our Constitution. Secularism is in our blood. We believe in Sarva Pantha Sambhava.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)

The PM also spoke about the growing Indo-US ties in the interview to the foreign publication.