Nitin Gadkari retains road transport ministry
New Delhi (PTI): Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, popularly referred to as the 'Highway Man of India', has been appointed the Road Transport and Highways Minister for the third consecutive term in the newly formed Union Cabinet of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government, an official statement said on Friday.
The 67-year-old leader from Nagpur in Maharashtra has been the longest serving road transport & highways minister.
Gadkari is credited with the construction of more than 54,858 km of national highways in the country in the last 10 years.
Under his leadership, the road ministry aims to complete the construction of 1,386-km Delhi-Mumbai Express by December this year.
The former BJP president -- closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- has won three consecutive times from the Nagpur seat, which houses the RSS headquarters.
On Sunday, he was inducted into the NDA government as a cabinet minister.
Gadkari's foray into national politics happened in 2009 when he was appointed the BJP president.
Since 2014, when Gadkari made his debut in the Lok Sabha polls from Nagpur and became a minister at the Centre, he has handled several portfolios like the micro, small and medium enterprises, shipping, water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, rural development and panchayati raj.
He served as a member of the Maharashtra legislative council from the Nagpur Graduates' constituency from 1989 to 2014.
He became a state minister for the first time in 1995 and held charge of the Public Works Department (PWD).
During the period, he worked for getting all-weather roads constructed in the state and containing the problem of malnutrition in the Melghat area of Vidarbha region.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and 54 flyovers in the Maharashtra capital were constructed during his tenure as a state minister.
The Bandra-Worli Sea Link was also conceived during Gadkari's tenure as the PWD minister.
The greenfield expressway projects under the Bharatmala Pariyojana phase 1 in the country are under various phases of completion.
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False narrative created over 2002 Gujarat riots, courts found us innocent: PM Modi
New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the discourse around the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat was an attempt to create a false narrative and his political opponents in power at the Centre wanted him to be punished but the courts cleared his name.
In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi said the perception that the 2002 riots were the biggest riots ever in Gujarat was an attempt to push misinformation.
"If you review the data from before 2002, you will see that Gujarat faced frequent riots. Curfews were constantly being imposed somewhere. Communal violence would erupt over trivial issues such as kite flying contests or even bicycle collisions," Modi said.
The prime minister said the riots in Gujarat in 1969 lasted for more than six months and that was an era when he was nowhere on the political horizon.
Modi said the Godhra train burning incident took place barely three days after he was elected as a legislator of the Gujarat Assembly.
"It was a tragedy of unimaginable magnitude, people were burned alive. You can imagine, against the backdrop of incidents like the Kandahar hijacking, the attack on parliament, or even 9/11, and then to have so many people killed and burned alive, you can imagine how tense and volatile the situation was," he said.
"Nothing should happen, we also wish so. Everyone would wish there should be peace," the prime minister said during the podcast released on Sunday.
Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister at that time, said the big incident at Godhra was the sparking point and violence took place. He said that a fake narrative was spread regarding the Godhra case.
"But, the courts investigated the matter thoroughly and found us completely innocent. Those who were truly responsible have faced justice from the courts," he said.
The prime minister said his political opponents were in power at the Centre when the violence took place and they were keen to see him punished over the allegations.
"At that time, our political opponents were in power, and naturally they wanted all allegations against us to stick. They wanted to see us punished. Despite their relentless efforts, the judiciary analysed the situation meticulously twice and ultimately found us completely innocent," Modi said.
The prime minister said the most important thing was that Gujarat, which used to witness violence almost every year, has not seen riots since 2002.
"Over the past 22 years, there hasn't been a single major riot in Gujarat.
"Gujarat remains completely peaceful," Modi said.
The prime minister said his approach has always been to avoid vote bank politics.
"Our mantra has been, sabka saath sabka vikas aur sabka prayas. We have moved away from the politics of appeasement practised by our predecessors to the politics of aspiration," Modi said during his over three-hour interaction.
He highlighted how some people tried to malign his image after the riots but ultimately justice prevailed and the courts cleared his name.
