Modi continues to boast about OROP success during Rishikesh trip

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rishikesh on 11 September 2015, to meet his ailing guru, Swami Dayanand Giri, at his ashram in Sheeshamjhadi. After meeting him, Modi went to attend a felicitation ceremony in Virbhadra town which was organised to thank him for implementing the One Rank One Pension scheme.

Modi started off his speech by saying, "I had promised that I will not sit quietly and I have met people from five different states today."

This is the rest of his speech:

• I can say that the mood of people has changed so much that whenever I say something, everybody comes together to fulfill that.

• Today I take pride in saying that around 4.5 lakh toilets have been built in one year.

• Providing 24-hours supply of electricity is a tough task but, I think people have chosen me for such things.

• Initially, when I used to think about OROP, the Congress' estimate of Rs 500 crore used to come to my mind.

• I thought the expense will be a little more, but when we calculated it reached Rs 10,000 crore. This is not a small amount, but our soldiers' respect is more important to us.

• The people who thought that OROP will never be implemented because of the costs involved are still busy protesting.

Vaad ho, vivaad ho aur samvaad ho, yahi to loktantra ka dharma hai: PM Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/CVajqFQjVy

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 11, 2015

He also took a jibe at Congress and said that it has come down to 40 from 400 because it indulges in negative politics. "Showing dissent is an important role of the opposition party in a democracy but there is a huge difference between negative politics and dissent," he added.