PM Narendra Modi uses Bengaluru example to slam privatisation critics

“Bengaluru can help change the mindset of those who harshly criticise India’s private sector and enterprises. The 21st-century India belongs to wealth creators, job creators and innovators,” Modi added.

Meanwhile, as violent protests against the Agnipath scheme for armed forces’ recruitment raged on in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi batted for reforms.

Modi — while refraining from referring to the scheme — attempted to assert his support for the radical human-resource-management reform for the armed forces.

“Many decisions and reforms may look unpopular at first, but with time these reforms will bear fruit for the country. The path of reform is what will lead us to new aims and targets,” Modi told a raging crowd in Bengaluru.

Packed schedule

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting Karnataka Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai at the Bengaluru airport (Supplied)

During his two-day visit to Karnataka, Modi is scheduled to inaugurate a host of infrastructure projects including a Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the Indian Institute of Science.

On Monday, he inaugurated the new university campus for the Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) in the city and unveiled a statue of Ambedkar.

The institution was built during the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka.

Modi’s schedule also included dedicating 150 “Technology Hubs” developed by transforming Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Karnataka.

Rail and road projects, estimated to cost around ₹27,000 crore by the PMO, were also inaugurated on Monday.

Modi is expected to continue the second leg of his Karnataka tour in Mysuru, which will include visits to the famous Sri Suttur Math and the Sri Chamundeshwari Temple.

Before returning to New Delhi on Tuesday, he is expected to participate in a mass yoga demonstration at the Mysore Palace grounds on the occasion of the eighth International Day of Yoga.