(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that Indian Muslims will not respond to Al Qaeda's exhortations, and will live and die for the country.
In an interview to CNN, Modi said: "If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their (Al Qaeda) tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India - they will not want anything bad for India."
When asked why the Indian Muslims have remained immune to Al Qaeda's exhortations, Modi said he was not an authority on "psychological and religious" analysis on this.
In his interview, Modi spoke about a host of issues concerning India-US relations. He admitted that there has been many ups and downs in bilateral relations over the centuries.
He, however, expressed confidence that India-US ties will deepen further. "I have a one word answer, and with great confidence I say - yes. Let me explain - there are many similarities between the US and India. If you look at the last few centuries, two things come to light - America has absorbed people from around the world, and there is an Indian in every part of the world. This characterises both the societies.
Meanwhile, the prime minister emphasised the need for creating a legal architecture to institutionalise "Mission Swachh Bharat" at all levels from the village upward, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.
Chairing a high-level meeting to review preparations for the launch of "Mission Swachh Bharat", Modi said that the initiative should become the agenda of the entire country, in the form of a mass movement to be launched on October 2, the birth anniversary of father of nation Mahatma Gandhi.
He asked the ministry of rural development to explore the possibility of giving incentives to best performing villages. He also called for standards of cleanliness to be established for government offices.
Mission Swachh Bharat aims at creating a clean India by 2019, when the country celebrates 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who laid great emphasis on cleanliness.
Modi further said the activities on October 2 should not be limited to official functions in the national capital.
"Activities related to cleanliness should be undertaken in each and every village across the country, he said, highlighting the need for working together with state governments to make this mission a success.
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