India most tolerant country in the world: Naidu

New Delhi: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said India is the most tolerant country in the world and had a history of not attacking any nation even as he maintained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government was committed to its agenda of development.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only one agenda — development, development and development. Nothing else. Some people criticise, raking up unnecessary issues. We will never get distracted by that,” Naidu, the Urban Development Minister, said tonight at a function organised by the Delhi International Airport here.

Naidu said those people, who talk about India in the manner that it isn’t, should go out of the country then “they will get to know what is happening here and what is happening there”.

“Otherwise India is the most tolerant country in the world,” he said.

Naidu said India has never attacked anybody even as smaller countries have come here and taken away many things from this country.

“However, some of them are now returning them,” Naidu said in an obvious reference to the US government’s decision to return Indian artifacts worth USD 100 million.

Naidu also said that it was the then NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who provided all sorts of connectivity, even political connectivity in this country.

“Thanks to Atal Bihai Vajpayee the opportunities started coming in. He gave rail, port, road, rural connectivity…And also political connectivity. First time, he got 23 political parties, gave an able and stable government without having a majority of his own,” Naidu said.

—PTI