"Perception of India has changed in last 9.5 years, today India is not considered a weak country," says Union Minister Rajnath Singh

Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) [India], November 14 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the perception of India changed in the last nine and half years, now it is not considered a weak country.
Singh made the remark while addressing a public gathering in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district in view of the state assembly polls scheduled to be held this week.
"Earlier, the perception about India was that it is a weak country, a country of poor but this has changed in the last nine and a half years. Today India is not considered a weak country. Earlier, when India used to speak something on international platforms, people did not listen to it seriously, but today when India speaks on international platforms, the other countries listen carefully," Singh said.
India's stature increased in the entire world. Not only this, in terms of economy, earlier India stood at 11th place in the world and today India has taken a jump and stands at fifth place, the union minister added.
He further targeted the Congress party and asked what had the Congress done in its 50 years of rule?
"After becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi raised the stature of India so much in the world. He also made India so powerful from the economic point of view that today it has jumped from 11th place to fifth place," Singh added.
On the other hand, while addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur on Tuesday, PM Modi asserted that the storm of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would uproot Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
"I have met people in various parts of MP in the past few days and sought their blessings. The trust being shown in the BJP is amazing. Those making electoral calculations while sitting in Delhi could not make their assessment. Because of people's tremendous support, BJP storm in Madhya Pradesh will uproot Congress," the PM said.
The state is set to undergo polls on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.
Notably, the last state assembly polls in 2018 saw the Congress coming to power, with veteran leader Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister. Nonetheless, a political upheaval rocked the state in 2020 after then-Congressman Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to the saffron camp.
The Congress government fell after being reduced to a minority and the BJP formed the government, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister.