As Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the 17th Lok Sabha for the last time today, before this year’s general elections, here’s a look at what he had said in his last Lok Sabha speech on February 13, 2019, before the Lok Sabha polls.

Beginning his speech by thanking the then Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and then Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the late Ananth Kumar, claiming that the world had begun taking India seriously after the people had voted in a full majority government in three decades. He said, “When a leader with complete support meets another leader of a nation, he/she knows that the former has a mandate. This has a separate weight. I have experienced for all the five years that the credit for the position that India has secured today goes not to Modi or Sushmaji but to the decision of 125 crore Indians in 2014.”

Focus on women’s participation

He complimented MPs of all parties for their productivity, pointing out that the 16th Lok Sabha had witnessed the highest number of women MPs, a large number of whom were first-timers, as well as the highest number of women Cabinet ministers and the have two women ministers in the Cabinet Committee on Security. These were meant to embellish this claim that India’s self-confidence was at an all-time high, giving impetus to development that had made India the 6th largest economy, close to becoming $5 trillion in size.

Global achievements

Mentioning India’s achievements in various sectors like energy, digital technology, space and manufacturing, the PM claimed that India’s effort in the form of the International Solar Alliance was taken to mitigate the menace of global warming.

The PM said, “It is good news for each one of us that during the last four and a half years, during that tenure, India has become the world’s sixth largest economy. This has been a great achievement of this tenure and we all are partners in the same. The policies have directed us towards becoming a trillion dollar economy and the work done by our House has played a major role in helping the nation grow at a faster rate.”

Delving into India’s foreign policy achievements as displays of its soft power, the PM said that in the previous five years, India had played a big role in humanitarian activities across the globe, while yoga had become recognised globally and many countries were celebrating Ambedkar and Gandhi Jayantis.

Tough on corruption

He went on to delve into his government’s firm stand against black money and corruption with the passage of stringent laws like the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. He also took credit for having legislated amendments to the Enemy Property Act and the passage of GST, claiming that the process of its implementation had revealed a “spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship”.

Modi also spoke about his government’s initiatives like Aadhaar, EWS reservation, maternity benefit, etc. He said that in a major initiative, over 1,400 redundant laws had also been scrapped during the 16th Lok Sabha, before concluding his speech in a lighter vein, describing his apprehensions as an ingenue MP in his early days at the Lok Sabha, and how much he had learnt from seasoned MPs.