New Delhi, Mar 9 (IANS): Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur, has said here that there is only one guarantee in the country which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee.

Reacting to a query on PM Modi's guarantees by the IANS at the Viksit Bharat Ambassadors programme on Friday, the Minister said, "People further claim that their choice is Prime Minister Modi. When people's choice is PM Modi, the selection becomes easier. This time people have said that if at all they will have to elect the Prime Minister, they will only elect PM Modi. Because he is the one who fulfils promises and only Modi's guarantees work."

Earlier on Friday while addressing a public gathering, Thakur mentioning Ram Mandir said, "If anybody has paid the real price of democracy, they are India's majority Hindus. It took 500 years of struggle in our own country and 150 years of court cases. We waited for the Supreme Court's decision. When the decision came in our favour, we did not wait for long. In just two years, even during Covid-19, we have built the Ram Mandir and its 'Pran Pratishta' has also been conducted."

"When we talk about cultural renaissance, it's not only Ram Mandir, it is also about magnificent Somnath temple, Kashi Vishwanath temple, Kedarnath and Mahakal Lok temple. And now it is Ayodhya. These Hindu pilgrim centres are not only devotional centres, along with it they have strengthened culture, art, heritage and economy," he added.

"Earlier antiques were smuggled abroad. Now they are brought back to India. Kohinoor will also return to the country soon. New Delhi's Raj Path has been converted into the beautiful Kartavya Path. It used to have King George's statue, now we have Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's statue at the India Gate," he said.

Thakur also added, "Late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's time projects could not be completed till the former PM Manmohan Singh's term. Whereas BJP is announcing and completing them."

"When we look back at 2014, out of 12 public sector banks, 11 were under stress. Today, 12 out of 12 are profit-making banks. In 2013-14, they earned Rs 11,000 crore profit, today they are earning profits of more than Rs 1 lakh crore."

"Late PM Rajiv Gandhi had said that if he sends Rs 100, only Rs 15 reach people. Today, we can say Rs 100 is sent from the government, through Direct Benefit Transfer, the whole Rs 100 has reached and not a single penny is siphoned off. That is the transparency which has been brought in," the Minister said.

Talking about the Viksit Bharat Ambassadors programme, one of the young female participants told IANS that, "it was a good interaction between Union Minister Anurag Thakur and it was a nice opportunity to bring up our problems about sports, particularly boxing. I think he would take it into consideration and I would like to hope in future that there will be changes."

"The Viksit Bharat Ambassadors programme is much needed in the country. There was a big gap and the formal workforce was staying away from getting involved in politics and envisioning what they wanted. This facilitates contributing in the smallest way possible. We were all ready to be arm-chair critics, but, this is a great way to say I will contribute in the smallest way and Viksit Bharat has actually made that a possibility. This is a wonderful programme that the government has created," opined another young participant told IANS.