NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday praised his decision to invite South Asian leaders to his swearing-in as a well-timed move, and urged academics to record his amazing electoral victory as a feat comparable to Tony Blair’s and Barrack Obama’s success stories.

Visiting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters for the first time after becoming prime minister, Mr Modi noted that people had a lot of expectations from his government and it was the duty of his government to keep pace with their aspirations.

Press Trust of India quoted him as telling BJP workers that democracy in the country needs to be strengthened as a result of which even the world will give India its due respect and status.

In this context, he referred to his initiative of inviting leaders of Saarc countries for the swearing-in ceremony on May 26.

“The entire world got a message and they are still talking about it, what happened, how it happened. It shows how effective a right decision taken at the right time can be,” Mr Modi told a gathering of party cadres in the presence of party president and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, among other leaders.

He said that people of the country had been disillusioned with the Congress long back and even the “experiment” of alternatives had not helped.

“The clear-cut mandate that BJP got would not have been possible had there been no undercurrent and common thought process from Kashmir to Kanyakumari,” he said.

Mr Modi told BJP workers that if government’s work could inspire people to believe that it was working dedicatedly for their welfare, they will never break their ties with the party.

On the absolute majority attained by his party, he termed the elections a “turning point” in the 21st century in which all traditional caste, religious and other political equations were ignored by voters who chose the politics of hope and aspirations above everything.

He said social scientists and political pundits should study the elections and his party’s win just as Labour Party’s first victory under Tony Blair and Barack Obama’s maiden election as the US president were discussed, spawning numerous books.

“This (election) is a significant challenge for political pundits, social scientists... If it gets due importance in the nation, if university comes ahead and we could document it all and present it before the world, it would be a big thing,” he said, noting that people in India are generally not “history-conscious”. Leading academics have accused Mr Modi of confusing history with religious myths.

The prime minister hailed party workers and recalled how happy he was when Atal Behari Vajpayee came to the BJP headquarters for the first time after becoming premier.

“When I had urged him (Vajpayee) to come to the headquarters he had asked me what was the need for it. I told him you are now PM and party workers will be so happy to have you among them. We were so enthused. Now I cannot imagine that you are honouring me so much,” PTI quoted him as saying.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2014