'Here as family member, not as PM', Modi tells Dawoodi Bohra Muslims in Mumbai

Modi fondly recalled his decades-old close ties with the Dawoodi Bohra sect of the Muslim community and praised its members for changing themselves with the times.

PM Narendra Modi with spiritual leader Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin during the inauguration of the new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in Mumbai,

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said in the last few years an atmosphere of unprecedented trust has been created in the country as he reached out to the influential Dawoodi Bohra community and praised its members for changing themselves with the times.

Presenting himself as a family member of the community and not as Prime Minister at an event at Marol in suburban Andheri, Modi fondly recalled his decades-old close ties with the social group.

Inaugurating the fourth campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, a premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of the Muslim community, he said the country has put an end to 40,000 compliances and decriminalised hundreds of legal provisions.

These laws adversely affected the businesses of entrepreneurs, but the government is now standing firmly with job creators, said the PM on his second visit to Mumbai in less than a month. "An atmosphere of unprecedented trust has been created in the last few years," he said.

The PM spoke about a big fillip being given to medical education by his government and said a medical college is being opened in every district.

From 2004 to 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was in office, 145 medical colleges were started in the country.

But after he assumed office in 2014, more than 260 medical colleges have been set up, Modi said.

"In the last eight years, every week, one university and two colleges were opened in the country," he maintained and highlighted his government's push for higher education.

The PM said on one hand, the country is building modern infrastructure and on the other hand, it is investing heavily in social infrastructure.

In this year's Union budget, a provision has been made to digitise ancient texts, he said.

Effusively praising the Dawoodi Bohra community, Modi said its members have stood the test of transforming themselves according to changing times. "l am here as a family member, not as Prime Minister," Modi said in his outreach to the community.