Modi govt doesn't make policies to please people unlike others: Shah

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a sharp dig at the previous governments at the Centre and said that, unlike the predecessors whose every step was ruled by vote bank politics, the policy-making principles of the Centre under Narendra Modi is not dictated by the need "to please people" rather their betterment is the BJP government's only aim.

The Home Minister noted that some decisions of the Central government might appear to be "tough" but were for "people's good".

"There has been a big change in this country after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. Earlier, policies were made with a view at the vote banks.

The Narendra Modi government has never made policies to please the people, but for the good of the people," Shah said addressing a function.

Citing the instances of some of the moves by the government including Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Direct Benefit Transfer, the Home Minister said that opposition to these decisions was obvious and understood.

"When we bring GST, our opposition is natural. When we brought DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), there was big opposition. It was obvious as the middlemen would not like it.

Similarly, all the decisions which have been taken, they might be tough, but were for the good of the people," he said. "I'm saying this because if you have to understand the policy, the basic principles will also have to be understood while making policies.

We have never thought about vote bank while making policies but solutions to the problem," Shah added. The Home Minister further said that the Modi government has changed the method of governance from 'Rule-Based Learning' to 'Role-Based Learning'.

Shah took note of the previous administrations and said that earlier policies were not made keeping solutions to the basic problems at the centre stage and said that the Modi government has changed the scale and size of policies.

"The Modi government has never seen the problems in pieces. Earlier, policies were not made keeping in view complete solutions to the basic problems. The Modi government has changed the scale and size of the policies," he said. "As far as the public facilities are concerned, our administration works in the hierarchy.

Every level has different challenges. Officers will also have to look at the suggestions received from different levels from their point of view as well as from a bird's eye view, after that they will have to make mantras of good governance in their area," Shah added.

Referring to the media, the Home Minister said that good things of any government should be accepted irrespective of personal ideology. "Good things should be accepted irrespective of any government.

Be it the government of any ideology, if a journalist does not accept the results with an open mind, then he is not a journalist but an activist. An activist cannot be a journalist and a journalist cannot be an activist. Both are different jobs. Both are good at their respective places. But if both start doing each other's jobs, there would be a problem. This is seen a lot these days," he said.