India takes pride in its democracy: Ravi Shankar Prasad clears air on Amitabh Kant's row

After NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's purported remarks were criticised by the Opposition, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that India takes pride in its democracy and the BJP will work through it to win the confidence of people. 

"India takes pride in its democracy. The people of the country love Prime Minister Narendra Modi and have reposed confidence in him and it is being seen on the ground as the BJP has won even in villages. We will work through democracy to win the confidence of the people," Prasad told reporters at a Cabinet briefing when asked about the remarks made by Kant. The Union Minister, however, said that the officer concerned has already clarified his statement. 

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the Central government over its initiatives and said that reforms under Prime Minister Narendra Modi are equal to "theft." Rahul Gandhi's reactions came a day after NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant was quoted saying that it is difficult to carry out tough reforms in India as there is 'too much of democracy', and emphasised that more reforms are needed make the country competitive.

'We have too much of democracy': Kant's purported remarks

Addressing a virtual event organised by Swarajya magazine, Kant said that for the first time, the Centre has carried out hard reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour, agriculture, and the next wave of reforms must be pushed by the states. "Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much of democracy...You needed political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done," he said, according to news agency PTI. 

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"It is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms," Kant said. "This government has demonstrated the political will to carry out hard reforms," he added. However, Amitabh Kant clarified on his remarks and said, "This is definitely not what I said. I was speaking about the MEIS scheme and resources being spread thin and the need for creating global champions in the manufacturing sector." Several media houses including digital arms of two national dailies who had published the report also took it down after the NITI Aayog CEO's clarification.

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(With agency inputs)