Smriti Irani: Defeat in states won’t affect Brand Modi; true test of what we have done will be in 2019

New Delhi: In the first interview after the December Assembly elections defeat in three states, Union textiles minister Smriti Irani told MyNation that this performance would have no bearing on 2019 general elections, which would be a mandate on what the Modi Sarkar had delivered to the nation.

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“While we accept there are three states where we could not form the government, one conveniently forgets the number of states where we still serve,” she said. “Brand Modi comes to be tested even in a municipal election. The true test of what we have done will be in 2019. While I feel every election since 2014 has been hailed as THE test and goalposts have been shifted, in 2019 we will go to the people and tell them what we have done working hard for five years and ask them to give us five more years.”

“If we had won the three states, people would have said it is not the measure whether the BJP will win or not in 2019. If the Congress loses, they complain about EVMs. This time there were no complaints,” Irani told MyNation. “When a cadre is in a position of service (I wouldn’t say power) for ten years or above, the margins in many seats are really thin. We can address a lot of gaps.”

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The minister said while the BJP went to the people with the work done in states, it is yet to go to them with the work done by Narendra Modi, on central schemes, and on things that have been streamlined.

Click on this link for the full interview

“Industry leaders said we were at the cusp of the fourth revolution, the digital revolution. Narendra Modi brought digital India as a pathway to the future. The PM goes into specifics on a project. On specifics, the Congress president has no answer,” she said.

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She asked how could a chief minister take oath in Madhya Pradesh and in two hours say ‘sab ka karza maaf’? (all loans waived off) “How can you know in just two hours which farmer has borrowed that money from a bank or non-banking facility, or a money-lender. How is it possible for two functional states to have a urea shortage within just 10 days of a new government taking the oath,” she asked.

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