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[Applause]
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[Music]
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thank you Mr
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President namaskar and good evening to
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all of
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you we're debating India's path tonight
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and I could wrap my argument in one
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sentence borrowed from the White House
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go to New Delhi and see it for
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yourself but I've been given more time
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than that so I will tell you what I see
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earlier this week I was on my way to the
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Delhi airport there was a lot of
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traffic at one point the car
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stopped on the roadside I saw two
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vendors one was selling fruit the other
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was selling coconut
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water what caught my attention was not
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what they were selling but how they were
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selling it both had a QR code
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prominently
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displayed and every single customer
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walked up to them scanning this QR code
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and paid for their purchase every single
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one of
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them to me this is a picture of today's
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India it shows three developments three
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of the many developments I shall list
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out
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tonight number one is financial
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inclusion both the vendors had a bank
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account linked to their mobile
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phone number two is internet or mobile
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penetration what we call digital
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India it was
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15% 9 years back it's 48 % today and
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number three is the airport traffic it
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just keeps swelling even though we are
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at the receiving end we see what it
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shows from 67 million 9 years back to
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almost double
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now to me these things signify the path
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that India is
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on the previous speakers have defined
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the motion well but in case the evening
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drinks have kicked in let me repeat this
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house believes modi's India is on the
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right path
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and how do you determine if the path is
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right or wrong you look at numbers data
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surveys
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reports I shall refer to all of these as
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I make my
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arguments but I also want to dwell on
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something that's more personal more
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important I think yet
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unquantifiable I'm talking about the
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experience of living in today's
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India I have lived in many
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indias the war India where exciting
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policies and positions were abandoned
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the self-doubting India where decisions
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were taken based on global
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opinion and today a more confident India
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where the world comes for leadership and
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inspiration you cannot put a premium on
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that Indians are more prosperous at home
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and hence more confident
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abroad let me also tell you what I saw
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at the airport here in London at the
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immigration
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counter I saw Indian proudly flaunting
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their passport none of the fidgeting or
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self-doubt of the last century and if I
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may add the immigration officer almost
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looked impressed she was either a fan of
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India or just worried that she was
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holding up one of Rishi Sak's
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relatives we are proud of what we share
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with the world Bollywood Masala chai
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yoga Cricket India Today is a soft power
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giant at the same time India is not a
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timid democracy that tolerates terrorism
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or betrayals
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when Pakistani terrorists attacked
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kashmir's pulama India carried out
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surgical strikes on
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balakot today's India is not a pushover
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country it's a world power
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denied today invasions and colonialism
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are part of our
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history not our
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identity we are shaped by a years of
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subjugation not defined by them we are
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excited about our Global
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responsibilities not wey of them this
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change in confidence comes from growth
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at
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home which brings me to the
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numbers I'll start with India's welfare
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state system and how it has fared in the
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past
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decade 110 million new gas connections
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470 million bank accounts 220 million
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insurance beneficiaries and to be fair
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the welfare concept is not new to India
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it's been there for a while what's new
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is the approach it's not just about
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putting more money in the pocket it's
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about empowering people and the result
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once again the evidence shows in the
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numbers India's per capita income has
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gone from 86,000 rupees in 2014 to
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172,000 rupees now it has
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doubled and a big reason for that is the
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falling inflation from more than 8% 9
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years back to less than 6% today and
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this ladies and gentlemen is in the
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middle of a global cost of living
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crisis foreign direct investment is at
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its highest level foreign trade is at
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its highest level the growth Mantra is
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connectivity and I don't have to tell
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the British that first thing you did in
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your colonies was build roads and
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Railways our growth story has been about
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two indias the urban India the bustling
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Urban India and a sluggish rural India
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today we are trying to connect the two
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we're building more than 38 km of
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Highway every day which is 50% more than
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what it was 7 years ago the number of
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airports has doubled since 201 14 the
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total capacity at C ports has
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doubled this connectivity is what what
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is driving India
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forward you mentioned GST our
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constitution calls India a union of all
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states which is a great tribute to our
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diversity but it also meant 28 different
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state economies different taxes
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different Trade Practices this
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Government tried to unify it to create a
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single Indian
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market it took time but the result is
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this today tax collection is at its
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highest ever the number of taxpayers has
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doubled since
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2017 I have a lot of data I could go on
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but you get the drift so now I'm going
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to talk about India's Global
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position because your path is also about
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your role in the world are you a
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troublemaker or a consensus
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Builder I think there is no doubt as to
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where India
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stands India is a member of the quad and
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the
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SEO India is invited to the G7 but is
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also a member of the
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bricks India rubs shoulders with the
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west but also leads the global
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South which other country can claim to
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juggle these
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roles and how does India do it because
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we are not trying to play an outsides
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role in the world we're trying to play
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the right
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role in the Russia Ukraine war India has
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not taken sides and I Know It confuses a
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lot of people here but back home the
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thinking is very clear it is not in our
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national interest to pick sides and make
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things worse India has excellent
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relations with Russia and the west and
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we want to preserve that it's like when
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your two good friends fight do you pick
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sides and make things worse or do you
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try to talk sense to them and Bridge The
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Divide I know what a good friend would
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do I see what India is
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doing India has always been or always
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tried to be a part of the solution not
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the problem look at our neighborhood
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policy when Sri Lanka was sinking India
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provided assistance worth $4 billion no
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strings attached no grudges held for
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Columbo's proximity with
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China a lot of people say that India is
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losing control of of South Asia I say
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south Asia was never India's to control
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New Delhi is building relations based on
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mutual respect and equality and the
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results show Beyond government
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interactions countries like Nepal and
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Bhutan are using India's online payment
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systems students from the neighborhood
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come to India for training grants and
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scholarships this government has aced
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what we call Buddhist diplomacy it is
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leveraging India's position as a cradle
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of Buddhism all these initiatives have
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made India
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popular the world stands with us against
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Chinese
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expansionism the global South looks up
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to us for leadership the global North
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looks up to us for partnership
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I think that's the Hallmark of great
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diplomacy and statecraft when you're
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loved and respected in all quarters more
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importantly when you're trusted in all
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quarters India repaid that trust during
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the covid-19 pandemic where the world
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forgot about morals and globalization
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India sent 24 CR vaccines to 100
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countries and you saw the result of that
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in Papua New Guinea when Prime Minister
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Modi landed there their prime minister
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touched his feet this was not a personal
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gesture to a leader this was a vote of
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thanks to the entire
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country let's talk about domestic
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affairs Kashmir was brought up this
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government abrogated article
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370 today kashmir's economy is doing
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much
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better 1.8 CR tourists visited the
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valley in the last year that's the
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highest ever in Indian history 1.8 CR
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Kashmir is getting its first ever
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foreign direct investment and that too
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from a company in the UAE but since this
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is Kashmir let's not limit ourselves to
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finances let's talk about security
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Terror attacks in the valley have almost
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halved in the last few years the numbers
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are staring in your face security is
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better economy is better Kashmir is
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better plus we have corrected a
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historical wrong imposed on
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India let me also address something else
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that was raised by the opposite side and
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that is religious
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intolerance it's easy to quote anecdotal
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evidence and paint an an entire country
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as
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intolerant but random elements and
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sporadic incidents do not speak for
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India or its leadership or its
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government only policies do and I'll
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tell you about those
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policies more Muslim Students got
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Scholarships in modi's first term than
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the previous government I'm talking
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about 2 million more Muslim Students if
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the idea was to marginalize them why
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give them more scholarships
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look at the government's hudge
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policy Prime Minister Modi held personal
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talks with the Saudi regime to increase
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India's Hajj Kota in 2014 it was
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136,000 by 2019 it was more than 200,000
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again if the idea was to marginalize
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Muslims why increase the Hajj
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quota this government abolished triple
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talak would you call it reform or
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repression let me also tell you what a
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Pew study found found in 2021 it runs
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counter to every argument that will be
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made here tonight it found that 89% of
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all Muslims and Christians in India say
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they're free to practice their religion
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I'll repeat 89% of all surveyed Muslims
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and Christians but no let's build on
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perceptions and anecdotes not on
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facts I would also point you to all the
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social schemes the bank accounts the gas
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connections the insurance policies
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they're available to all citizens of all
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religions does that mean India cannot do
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better absolutely not even one incident
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of marginalization is one too many but
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how would you judge an entire country's
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path in fact it struck me when I was
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invited for this event why would Oxford
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University be interested in debating the
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path of modi's
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India because India has defied Western
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predictions it's the world's largest
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democracy charting its own
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course India today has shed the the
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burden of trying to comply with Western
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constructs no amount of lecturing or
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virtue signaling is shaking India's
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confidence and that is what unsettles
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critics there are hitandrun experts with
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no accountability who make
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pronouncements based on their political
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leanings to create an anti-india
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narrative GDP growth won't touch 5%
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there was corruption in the Rafal deal
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the government was snooping an
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opposition parties using Pegasus all of
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these make for juicy
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deadlines and they make it look like
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everything is wrong in India but when a
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Supreme Court investigation finds no
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wrongdoing when India's growth crosses
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7% who is questioning these
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experts when an 85% Hindu majority
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Karnataka votes out the BJP is the West
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than lording India secular
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credentials you see to judge a country's
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path you have to be able to separate
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agenda-driven narrative from facts
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in conclusion let me say
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this for any country in the world there
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is always a wrong path enough dictators
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and autocrats have shown us but there is
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no single right path Britain has its own
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right path India has its own right path
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as long as democracy is respected as
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long as the Constitution is respected I
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would say to each their own it is wrong
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to judge one country on the parameters
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of
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another and that has been the beauty of
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India since 2014 we've uplifted 140
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million people out of poverty we did so
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while conducting free and fair elections
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dozens of them we did so while
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protesting debating and
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dissenting and finally I think the
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Hallmark of of a right direction is also
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public approval do the people think
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you're on the right path the people of
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India answered that question in
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2019 thank you
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[Applause]
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[Music]
