"Election victory is a stamp of approval for India's civil servants" : PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Crediting the officials of the Prime Minister Office (PMO) and civil servants for his victory in the Lok Sabha elections, PM Narendra Modi on Monday urged them to put more efforts so that the country can move towards the direction of crossing the Global Benchmark.

"These elections are not a stamp on the speeches of Modi, these elections are a stamp on the efforts of every government employee in 10 years,"PM Modi said while making his first address to the PMO officials on Monday after assuming office of the Prime Minister for the third term.

He further affirmed that his aim is to work to achieve even bigger targets than what was achieved in the last 10 years.

"What new can be done in the team which gave me so much in 10 years, how we can do even better, how we can do ever quicker, how we can do it on a better scale - if we go ahead together with all of these, I am confident that the 140 crore people of the country have put their stamp of approval on their efforts," he said as he expressed his commitment to serve the people of the country with more vigour.

"So, if someone is entitled to this victory, it is you. Every employee of the Government of India is truly entitled to this victory - who left no stone unturned to give themselves in for a vision...I want to go ahead with a new energy, a new courage. I was not born to stop," he added.

He further said that "stable desire" combined with "resolution and hard work" brings success.

"You will meet a lot of people in your real life if you talk to people who belong to teenage groups- if for some time cricket season is going on, he feels like becoming a good cricketer. If a good movie becomes very popular then he feels that this field is good, and I should become an actor. At the same time, the Chandrayaan incident happened, so he felt that this field was very good and that he should become a scientist," Prime Minister Modi said.

"Most of the people are those whose desires are unstable. And when the desire is unstable, then the common man calls it a wave...But when the desire becomes stable and it attains stability for a long time, then the desire passes through a process which turns into a resolution...Desire plus stability is equal to resolution, and resolution plus hard work is equal to success," he added.

Laying out his vision further, Prime Minister Modi said that their aim is to cross the global benchmark and take the country to a level, not reached by anyone.

"...I think my obligation now is to think more than I thought in 10 years, to do more than I did in 10 years. What has to be done now, is to be done towards the direction of crossing the Global Benchmark. What we were yesterday and how well we did today - that time has gone by...If the world is at a stage beyond which there is nothing else, we have to be there. We have to take our country where nobody else reached," he further said.

PM Modi also praised the PMO officials and said that it is not just him alone, but the whole team that works for the people.

"When it comes to the Government, it is not just Modi alone, thousands of minds that are connected to him, thousands of brains that are working on this, thousands of arms that are working on this - as a result of this grand form, even the common man gets to meet its capabilities," he said.

Asserting that every moment of his life is devoted to the progress of the country, Prime Minister Modi laid thrust on value addition while reaching goals and said his office should be "people's PMO and cannot be Modi's PMO".

In his first address to the officials of PMO after assuming office of the Prime Minister for the third time, PM Modi also laid thrust on firm resolve and hard work to achieve targets.

"Ten years ago the image in our country was that PMO is a power centre, a very big power centre and I was not born for power. I do not think of acquiring power. For me, it is neither my wish nor my path that PMO should become a power centre. The steps we have taken since 2014, we have tried to develop it as a catalytic agent," he said.

"Our aim is to keep generating new energy from here that provides new light to the whole system...PMO should be people's PMO and it cannot be Modi's PMO," he added.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Narendra Modi, followed by other members of his team of ministers on Sunday.

PM Modi reiterated his unwavering commitment to serving the nation and steering it towards prosperity.