Bhubaneswar, May 5: External affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on Saturday said the past ten years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a phase of laying a strong foundation for making India a “strong nation” and the next five years will be dedicated to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat in the next 25 years which is now known as ‘Amrit Kaal.’

“In 2014, Narendra Modi sought five years for BJP to serve the nation. As Prime Minister he delivered on all fronts – starting from salvaging the nation from an utter state of despair to hope and aspiration. People of all sections were taken up. Country made progress on all sectors and an economy boomed. People appreciated PM Modi’s performances and blessed him with another term in 2019. Now, after 10 years, people’s trust in him has doubled and they have reposed faith in his leadership to take the country on the path of progress to reach our goal of Viksit Bharat,” he said during an interaction with editors of different newspapers and television channels.

Speaking on the foreign policy of India, Jaishankar said India is playing the role of a peace-broker across the globe as the world leaders trust the country's leadership.

“Now, you see turmoil in different parts of the world. The Russia-Ukraine war, the tension in Gaza following the terrorist attack on Israel and the more recent Israel-Iran conflicts have created tensions in those regions, besides affecting the world order. However, during such critical times, whenever leaders of all these countries have looked to India to play its role to ease the tension, our country has obliged in the best possible manner,” said the minister.

Stating that India’s foreign policy was on the right track, Jaishankar said the country had succeeded in asserting itself in the global platform as one of the forward-looking countries.

On the strained relationship with Canada, Jaishankar said, “Our relationship with Canada and its Prime Minister is not the same as with other nations. You can see Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as an exception. What’s the reason? Some people who profess Khalistani ideology have made use of that democracy and formed a lobby and vote bank. Some parties in Canada, some parties in that country feel that if they maintain good relationships with these people, it will benefit. It’s all about vote bank politics in Canada. Now, the matter is more serious because the Trudeau government lacks a majority in the parliament. The leaders of other political parties on whom Trudeau is dependent are pro-Khalistani.”

The minister said though India wrote to Canada for extradition of 25 Khalistani leaders, the latter did not take any action on that.

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To a query, Jaishankar said Odisha should have a BJP government to carry forward the development of the Narendra Modi government.

“I concur what Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that Odisha has not progressed much in the past two decades despite it having huge mineral resources. We need to have a young person with a sharp outlook to lead the state,” he observed.

Jaishankar is currently on a two-day trip to Odisha to interact with the intellectuals, journalists and BJP party workers.

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