PM Modi's response to the deadlock on the Land Bill: Gaon, Garib, Kisan: if the suggestions are favourable to these downtrodden groups and are in the interests of the nation, we will accept those suggestions.


In a wide-ranging interview to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed confidence that reforms measures like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and land acquisition Bill will be passed in "a matter of time".  Full text of PM's interview on Rediff.com shortly.


To a question on whether he would have done things differently in the last one year, Modi says:  I had two options. One option was to do things methodically to mobilise the government machinery, correct the many defects and ills which had crept into the system, so as to provide long term benefits to the country in the form of clean, efficient and fair governance. The other option was to use the mandate to announce new populist schemes and bombard the media with announcements to keep the people fooled. The latter course is easier and people are used to it. However, I did not choose this and instead chose the more difficult path of correcting the defective government machinery in a quiet and methodical way. If I had chosen the populist course, it would have been a breach of the trust placed in me by the people."