Uniting the people with development programmes was my mantra: Modi

In a speech that clearly betrayed his political ambitions, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday asserted he was the first in six decades of independent India to deliver good governance.

Addressing thousands after ending his three-day fast here, Modi repeatedly harped on the widely recognized economic progress Gujarat has made since he became chief minister a decade ago.

In the process, but without taking anyone's name, he insisted that no other government anywhere in India had managed to achieve what he had by transforming Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.

His mantra, he said, was to involve people in development schemes and to usher in a new work culture.

"The mood of despondency in the county has been changed by Gujarat," he said, speaking in chaste Hindi. "What people say is impossible (elsewhere in India), Gujarat has made it possible."

He took a swipe at his own political tribe, saying most politicians were only interested in winning the next election.

"This is how politicians work. They are swayed by vote bank politics. This is how programmes are made.

"This is how 60 years have been spent. Gujarat has come out of this (model). We will not run a government only to win elections. Today we have shown the real path of development."

Flanked by other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the stage, Modi said India and Indians had stopped dreaming.

"This is the root of all our problems. China has big dreams, America has big dreams..."

The chief minister underlined that he too could have run a government in a "routine manner".

"Others made roads, we too could have (been satisfied by making) roads. Others built hospitals, we too could have built hospitals...

"We did not think that way. We decided to bring about changes. We decided to awaken our energy... Uniting the people with development programmes was my only mantra."

Modi said his "Sadbhavana Mission" -- the name given for his fast undertaken to promote amity -- should not be seen from a political prism.

"My fast may have ended but my mission has not."

He made no reference to the 2002 communal violence that engulfed Gujarat but declared that his government did not frame politics for "minorities" or the majority community.

"All my people are mine. All their sorrow is mine. Their joy is mine. Their dreams are mine."