Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal leads AAP attack on PM Narendra Modi's foreign visits

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign tours and meetings with individual companies seeking investments. Asserting that Modi should look at China’s approach of first building the country’s infrastructure, Kejriwal warned that if this wasn’t done, investors could "dictate terms" before investing in India.

"PM Modi’s US trip ends. Time to ponder what has country achieved from his foreign trips so far?" the AAP supremo said. He asked if it "suit(s) the stature of an Indian PM to visit individual cos (sic) seeking investments?" He then reiterated his recent argument about exchanging emphasis on ‘ Make In India’ with ‘Make India,’ by which he meant creation of social infrastructure like education, health and roads first before building manufacturing plants and the like.

Seeking to explain this argument, he gave China’s example of 1979’s economic reforms — which were apparently based on a strong base of educated and relatively healthy population — launched by then premier Deng Xiaoping. "…Chinese first built China and then all corporate giants vied to invest in China. So, let’s first Make India," he said. But added a note a caution: "If we make India strong, investments will come at our terms, else investors will dictate terms."

Separately, the AAP also criticised Modi for allegedly making "factually incorrect statements". To buttress its argument, the party cited the PM’s comments about the economy and secularism. "World Bank data clearly suggests that India is $2 trillion economy while our prime minister would hold no bar to claim India to be an $8 trillion economy," an official statement by the party said.