Town Hall: Modi Condemns Gau Rakshaks who ‘Turn Criminal’ by Night

For the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with citizens in Obama-style town hall.He said that cow vigilantes should focus on preventing cows from consuming plastic and that India’s foreign policy focus should be ‘India first.’The event at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, marked two years since the launch of MyGov portal – the government’s citizen engagement platform.Coming out strongly against cow vigilantes, PM Modi said that some ‘gau rakshaks’ are criminals at night and claim to be protectors in the day. Furthermore, he said that those who want to serve cows should work towards stopping cows from consuming plastics.The focus of India’s foreign policy is ‘India first’, said PM Modi. In his town hall address, he said that India’s foreign policy should also focus on diaspora who have over the years become assertive and active.He said that India should use handloom widely and ‘khadi for nation and khadi for fashion’ should be the country’s guiding principle. Reaffirming the importance of the agriculture sector in the economy, he also said that it can power the economy.PM Modi said that India is growing at the rate of 7.6%, despite the purchasing capacity of world going down. He further said that tourism can boost the economy and that if India achieves 8% growth rate for 30 years then, it will be a leader in world economy. In his town hall address, PM Modi said that grievance redressal systems are the biggest strengths of a democracy. He further said that development and good governance should be balanced and the Prime Minister cannot be held responsible for everything which happens at every level in the nation. Prime Minister Modi said that if democracy is limited to voting and choosing a govt then the spirit of democracy would not develop. He also said that in India it is understood that good governance is bad politics and that governments usually start thinking about how to win the next elections which is why good governance is not a priority.Prime Minister Modi is set to address the gathering assembled in the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex as a part of his town hall outreach. The event marks two years of the launch of the MyGov citizen interactive website.On this occasion, he launched the PMO app, which enables easy access to between the Prime Minister and Indian citizens. Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had spoken at the event. Terming MyGov as the biggest platform of Digital India, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the user base of the government’s citizen engagement platform should touch at least 10-15 crore, given that the country has 103 crore mobile phone users. The country is changing. Digital democracy is the essence of India and Digital India is the destiny of India. MyGov is the biggest platform of Digital India.Ravi Shankar PrasadPrasad said MyGov platform should also include path-breaking achievements of the common man in the times ahead. I would like MyGov to become a platform to showcase achievements of those common people who don’t get space on TV and so on... You can change India by using technology, that is the essence of MyGov.Narendra Modi’s First-Ever Town HallPrime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to reach out to citizens through his first-ever town hall on Saturday, 6 August at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex to celebrate two years of MyGov portal – the government’s citizen engagement platform.Town hall is a concept that is commonly used in the West by politicians as well as CEOs to interact with people directly. US President Barack Obama is known to hold regular town hall meetings.Also Read: Modi to Hold ‘Town Hall’ to Celebrate Two Years of MyGovA new PMO application to enable mobile users to connect with the Indian Prime Minister’s website will also be launched at the mega event.It will be preceded by a series of panel discussions and sessions in keeping with the ‘Do, Discuss and Disseminate’ theme of MyGov and will culminate in the first-ever town hall address by the Prime Minister.(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

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Town Hall: Modi Condemns Gau Rakshaks who ‘Turn Criminal’ by Night

PM Modi came out strongly against cow vigilantism, elaborated on foreign policy and grievance redressal systems.