Besides, I don't think it is a correct yardstick to define a party's stand on such matters. You cannot forget that it was the NDA government which had proposed the name of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the post of president even as the UPA had opposed his candidature.
Q: Will the BJP come clean on the huge amount of money spent on these elections and the sources of the funding to quell talk that Adani and Ambani are funding your campaign?
A: Sometime back, a senior leader of the Congress party had levelled this frivolous allegation. Immediately thereafter I had dared the Congress to inquire into this allegation. I had gone to the extent of saying that Congress can choose any agency under the control of the central government. However, I have heard little on this issue after that. It is clear that the Congress' bluff has been called.
Q: There have been charges that BJP's campaign is centred around a single personality and the promotion of a personality cult. You hardly hear from veteran leaders like Advani, Sushma Swaraj, etc. Have they been sidelined because they opposed your leadership?
A: The decision-making system in the BJP is of collective leadership. At times it is difficult for most of our political opponents from political parties which have a family rule or are dominated by an individual to appreciate the concept of collective decision-making.
In any case, I think if the credit or the blame for the election being dominated by a single personality has to be given to anyone, it has to be my political opponents. You would have seen how I have been targeted in the last 12 years by my political opponents. I think it is their single-minded focus on somehow attacking Modi and stopping him which has brought a lot of support from the people of India to me.
Q: Coming to policies, how will you step up manufacturing that has been steadily on the decline? Are you ready to adopt any changes in the land acquisition policy?
