BJP’s prime minister candidate Narendra Modi said on Sunday he was not aspiring to become PM for the sake of holding the post, but was driven by a strong calling "to bring big changes" in the system, including tax reforms, so that things became better for everyone.
Ignoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s jibe at him two days ago that he would be a disaster as PM because of his handling of the 2002 riots in Gujarat, Modi said there were so many who would be happy to become PM to keep the system going.
"I am not one of them... If the things have to be run the same way, there are many who would be willing to do that... I was not born for the sake of holding some post but to do something," he said.
Sharing the stage with yoga guru Ramdev to mark the completion of the first anniversary of his Bharat Swabhiman movement against black money, Modi turned to him and said, "you should go by leaders’ track record and not tape record."
Modi agreed taxation had become a burden for common people and "the BJP is working on this to unshackle the system". Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley stressed on rationalisation of taxation in India and "the fact is there is more black money in countries which have high rate of taxation".
{{/usCountry}}Modi agreed taxation had become a burden for common people and "the BJP is working on this to unshackle the system". Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley stressed on rationalisation of taxation in India and "the fact is there is more black money in countries which have high rate of taxation".
{{/usCountry}}BJP president Rajnath Singh said, "Transaction tax sounds like a good idea."
Ramdev said once Modi becomes PM, he should abolish bring in a single tax in the form of a "banking transaction tax", as proposed by former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
Modi said the 2014 polls have completely changed the way the elections are fought.
"I am glad it is on development agenda and not divisive politics. People are asking us what we will do if we are voted to power. Not just for BJP, for everyone it should be so. Only then can we bid goodbye to old politics of manipulation."