Indians get more respect abroad now than before 2014, says Piyush Goyal

Indians today receive more honour and respect in foreign lands than they did before 2014, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday (December 14) claimed.

Speaking at a gathering of leaders and workers of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, he also said that before 2014, the state’s law-and-order scenario was “very bad” and corruption and major scams featured in news headlines regularly. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It also won the general elections of 2019 and 2024.

Goyal names UP's new BJP chief

Goyal’s claim came after he announced the name of his ministerial colleague, Pankaj Chaudhary, as the president of the state unit of the party. Pankaj, a seven-time MP from Maharajganj and the minister of state for finance, will replace Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, who served for a little more than three years. UP goes to its next Assembly elections in early 2027.

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Addressing the attendees, Goyal said that by making Modi the prime minister and ensuring the formation of the NDA government with a huge majority. “You have been the witness to ('saakshi') and the facilitator of ('sutradhaar') the development spree it started,” he said.

'Mindset changed under Modi'

“In the journey from 2014 to 2025, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mindset and the way of working changed. At the international level, India’s identity also changed. Today, wherever we go carrying the Indian passport, the honour and respect one gets abroad as an Indian, it was never the same before 2014,” Goyal said.

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He also said the way the Modi government has made good governance its focal point, linked a developing country with development, made the spirit of ‘antyodaya’ (welfare of the last person) reach houses in the true sense, and changed the lives of people after 2014, it is a “precedent” for the country and the world.

The Union minister also listed the achievements of the government and said it has pulled a record number of 25 crore people from poverty in 11 years.

He also said that in such a short time, the country’s economy became the fastest-growing economy in the world, and is on the way to becoming the third-largest economy globally.

Goyal praises CM Adityanath

Goyal, also praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the occasion, saying the latter has freed the state from land mafia, sand mafia and liquor mafia in the past eight years.

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He has ensured good law and order and made Uttar Pradesh the second largest economy in India, which is moving towards USD 1 trillion, Goyal said.

"I feel that both leaders have worked to take India and Uttar Pradesh forward with a new thought and in a new direction, which is in front of us, and it inspires all of us," he said.

The Union minister also said that there is probably no other state that has developed so much in eight years, and there are unlimited possibilities (in the state).

He claimed that when the BJP came to power in the state in 2017, there was an atmosphere of exodus in the state, no job avenues for people, and the mafia prevailed.

"But today, an environment has been created by which industrialists feel secure here,” he said.

(With Agency inputs)