Ignoring protests outside, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today used a college platform to project himself nationally saying his focus was on development politics and not that of vote-bank, which he said has ruined the nation.

As protesters opposed to his visit clashed with police outside the Shri Ram College of Commerce here, he sought to commend the Gujarat model of governance to the rest of the country.

Modi, who is being projected by some BJP leaders as a Prime Ministerial candidate, contended that there was a sense of despondency all over the country and exuded confidence that the situation can be changed.

"There is a sense of despondency in the country. People feel nothing would change here. All are thieves, everything they do is waste. People consider it a curse to be born in India. They want to leave the country soon after completing their studies," Modi said delivering the Shri Ram Memorial Oration.

His extempore speech was telecast live by news channels.

"But my thought is different. I am Chief Minister for a fourth term and based on my experience, with the same law, same Constitution, same rules and regulations, same officers, same people, same files, we can move forward. We can do a lot. I am confident that we can change things," he said.

"This nation is being ruined by vote bank politics. This nation requires development politics. If we switch to politics of development, we will soon be in a position to bring about lasting change and progress," Modi said.

Outside the college, students carrying placards like 'Killer Modi', 'Go Back Modi' opposed the invitation by the College to Modi. They tried to break the police cordon and were baton-charged.

In a swipe at Congress, Modi said the growing strength of the country's youth was considered by some politicians as only "new-age voters" and said India's situation will not change like this.

"I am concerned that a section of the society, especially people of the political class, in their minds consider India's youth as only new-age voters and I don't think we can change the situation like this. I would like that India should accept them as new-age power and not just new-age voters," he said.

Speaking in Hindi on 'Emerging business models in the global scenario', Modi said the nation can progress by following 'Gujarat model' based on P2G2 (Pro-people, good governance) principle.

The Gujarat Chief Minister said India needs to be branded globally as it was one of the youngest nations in the world, having 65 per cent of its population below the age of 35.

He said the youth were the strength of the nation and if utilised properly, India can lead the world in coming times.

Citing a question posed to him by an Ambassador, Modi said there are two major challenges before India - how to use the opportunities, and how to utilise national resources.

"I said how to use opportunity. 65 per cent of the population is below 35 years of age. Europe has grown old, China is old, but India is young. But unfortunately, we have not been able to utilise such a big demographic opportunity.

"Our country is not poor. We have vast resources, see eastern India is full of them. But we are unable to use that. We are unable to utilise the opportunity," Modi said.

He said Gujarat has developed its model on three areas - agriculture, industry and services sector - and there should be even development in all the three areas. "If there is problem in one, the other two should support so that growth doesn't stop," he said.

Modi exhorted the youth to take charge, asking them to go ahead and help the nation develop despite all the negative things. He said that on a recent visit to Taiwan, some one asked him whether India was still a country of snake-charmers. He said his response was, no, we are not that strong any more. Our forefathers may have been snake-charmers, but now "we are a nation of mouse charmers." After a pause, he added, "Every young person in India uses a mouse on the computer."

Picking up a glass of water, he said an optimist would say the glass is half full, while a pessimist would say it is half empty.

"I have a third point of view. For me the glass is always full -- half with water and half with air. We can turn over the situation," he said.

Expressing optimism that the 21th century belonged to India, going by the strength of knowledge and youth that the country has, he said stress should be on skill development, scaling up projects and completing them up speedily.

"The whole world says 21st century is India's century. Some say it is Asia's century, while some also say it is China's century. I am confident that 21st century can be India's century as knowledge is supreme," he said.

Citing Gujarat's mantra of success that can be emulated by the country for speedy progress, he said the focus should be on the manufacturing sector by making zero-defect products with good packaging.

Modi said Gujarat gave primary attention to agriculture, recording over 10 per cent growth in the sector when the country was not even crossing 2.5 per cent growth.

"For 20 years, the country has been setting target of 4 per cent for agriculture but it crumbles at 2.5 per cent," he said, adding that in spite of being a desert state Gujarat's water table was rising while that of the country was going down.

Talking about the state's textile policy, he said, "We have focused from farm to fibre, fibre to fabric, fabric to fashion and fashion to forex."

Touting the recent 'Vibrant Gujarat Summit' which accepted the global relevance of Gujarat with the presence of 121 nations there, Modi said, "When the world sees this, they infuse confidence that we can do."

Highlight excerpts from his speech:

• I am coming here from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Look towards the freedom struggle, both strands were led by people from Gujarat. There was Shyamji Krishnavarma who inspired the revolutionaries and there was Mahatma Gandhi who gave us freedom.
  
• Many people gave their lives so that nation gets Swarajya. We got Swarajya but its been more than six decades, the nation wants Surajya. If India has to make place for itself on world map, we need to think of giving importance to Surajya. Surajya is nothing but good governance.
  
• Our model is P2G2— Pro People, Good Governance. Rulers often follow path of firefighting. But they must visualize things, discover new things, and dream to bring about change. But, in last 6 decades we have not been able to do it. Due to this there is air of pessimism in the nation.
  
• People think “Sab Chor Hai” or “I want to leave from here” but my thought is different. This is my 4th term as Chief Minister and from experience I can say that with the same laws, same rules, regulations, same people, we can move ahead and do lots 
  
• Optimists say the glass is half full, pessimists say the glass is half empty- I say, this glass full- filled half with air, half with water!
  
• An Ambassador from a foreign country came to meet me. After formal discussions he tried to talk to me about politics. He asked what are two challenges for India. I said the biggest challenge is how to use opportunities. He asked ‘How?’ I said we are the most youthful nation in the world. Europe is aging, so is China, while we are a youthful nation. Sadly we are not able to use this as an opportunity. This is a big challenge.
  
• I also said our nation is not poor. We have so many natural resources. See our Eastern India, it is full of natural resources. But we are not able to channelize this opportunity and create wealth. This is a challenge we have to overcome.
  
• We are not pitching our tent on a single pillar. Our development model is based on 3 aspects— development of agriculture, industry and services sector. We want all 3 sectors to grow where each supports the other so that state economy is never in trouble.
  
• Nation’s agriculture growth is at 2.5%. Gujarat was never a state known for agriculture, it was known for desert on one side and Pakistan on the other. Despite that, a state known for its water scarcity is growing at 10% in agriculture and creating a new history.
  
• We worked very hard for it (success in agriculture). You read about the Vibrant Gujarat Summits but that is held two days once every two years. Every year we do Krishi Mahotsavs. Officials go to villages, to the farms and they devote time on how to take new innovations to the farms.”
  
• People do not have health card in many places but in Gujarat farmers have soil health cards. We took great initiatives in irrigation. We built more than 6 lakh irrigation structures. Our water table is rising, we are the only state where the water table is rising.
  
• In 2001-02 when I became CM, 23 lakh bales of cotton was produced, today it stands at 1 crore 23 lakh bales. Our next step should be value addition. So we are working on that. We got a new Textile Policy. We have a 5F formula— from Farm to Fibre to Fabric to Fashion to Foreign. Till we do not take integrated approach then nothing will happen.
  
• With agriculture there is animal husbandry. The milk in your tea is from Gujarat. Have a ladyfinger in Europe or milk in Singapore, it will be from Gujarat and in Afghanistan tomatoes are from Gujarat. We do medical camps for cattle. 3000 camps are held. In last 6 months, 120 diseases have been eradicated totally. Gujarat has seen 80% rise in milk production.
  
• We are working towards increasing purchasing power and that cannot happen if our economic chart is not sustained
  
• Gujarat was never ahead in services sector earlier. We were best tourists but Gujarat was never tourist destination. Today, our tourism growth is double of that of India. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan says ‘Kuch Din Gujaro Gujarat Me’ (Spend some days in Gujarat).
  
• See the sphere of education. In 2001 we had 11 Universities today we have 42 Universities! And these are not ordinary Universities. We are 1st to have a forensic science university. We are first state to have Raksha Shakti University where whoever wants to join police, army can join & after regular course he can pursue dreams. We have most youthful police force in India. We have stressed on technology savvy police force.
  
• We did IITE for Teachers Education. Why cannot we create new teachers? We are first in India to start this University. It is my dream- world needs millions of teachers, we have youngsters, why can’t we send teachers also? A businessman goes, he controls money but a teacher captures a generation!
  
• In industrial development, we are lagging behind because we did not stress on technology upgradation.
  
• Ahmedabad was called the Manchester of the East but the mills closed down. Why? Because we did not upgrade our technology. Technology upgradation is must.
  
• Let us make the world our market and send our goods to the world. Branding is needed. When we were small, we read ‘Made in Japan’ and we bought a product. No one asked what company did the product belong to. Why cannot we make ‘Made in India’ brand for India? However, we cannot do this only in one sphere.
  
• Till December 2012 we were busy with the elections then the swearing in ceremony but on 11th January 2013 we organized Vibrant Gujarat Summit. 121 nations were there. Under one roof, the who’s who were there. When the world sees this, they say, ‘yes there is strength here. We can join with them.’ And once we start there is no looking back.
  
• Our Mantra is Gujarat’s Growth for India’s Growth. All this development is for India. There are few who would not have eaten Gujarat’s salt. When Gujarat develops, the nation gains from this.
  
• We have to adopt ‘Zero Defect Mantra’ and other is packaging. We need to study consumer psyche and then work on manufacturing sector.
  
• Swami Vivekananda dreamt of a Jagad Guru Bharat. It is for us to fulfill his dream
  
• This is 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. We are commemorating it as the Yuva Varsh. We have to decide how we have to see youth of the nation. I am worried that many, especially for political people, youth is merely a New Age Voter. If this remains we cannot bring change. I want that this nation does not see youth as new age voter but they are the New Age Power
  
• Swami Vivekananda dreamt of a Jagat Guru Bharat. Is it not for us to fulfill his dream? Need of the hour that with the youth power we move towards a Bhavya & Divya Bharat.
  
• The world says 21st century is India’s century, some say it is China’s century, some say it is Asia’s century. Whenever we have entered Gyan Yug (era of knowledge), we have led the world! 21st century is century of knowledge and I am sure it can be India’s century. We have such a talented pool of youth.
  
• Earlier the world saw us as land of snake charmers. Today our youth has gone to world and changed this. We are the land of mouse charmers now— with the click of a mouse on the computers our youth have drawn the world’s attention to India.
  
• Our youth has the skill. Whatever is the colour of our skin, we are no less than the world.
  
• To compete with China we need to stress on three things—Skill, Scale and Speed. Skill Development must be strengthened, Scale must be big, and Speed must be quick. We have done a movement towards Skill Development. This is not happening at such a scale nowhere in India.
  
• I feel the government has no business to be in business. I believe in minimum government, maximum governance.
• Solution to all problems is development. The country has been ruined by votebank politics. It needs development politics.