India needs sustainable development and not “shortcut politics”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday as he warned of “politics of opportunism” after launching and inaugurating projects worth ₹75,000 crore in Nagpur.

“Some political parties are trying to destroy the country’s economy and people should expose such politicians and parties. My appeal to all political leaders is to focus on sustainable development instead of shortcut politics. You can win elections with sustainable development,” he said, urging people to remain cautious against politicians indulging in shortcut politics, looting taxpayers’ money and grabbing power through false promises.

“Country’s development cannot take place through shortcut politics,” he added.

Highlighting that infrastructure development in the country over the last eight years has been done with a “human touch”, Modi said: “In the last eight years, we have changed the mindset and approach with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’ (everyone’s support, trust and efforts).”

The PM inaugurated the first phase of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway that connects Nagpur and temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, flagged off the Nagpur-Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express train, inaugurated the first phase of the Nagpur Metro Rail project and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur.

Calling the 11 developmental projects he inaugurated in Nagpur “jewels” of Maharashtra, the PM praised the “double engine” government (the Bharatiya Janata Party being in power both at the Centre and in the state) of steering development in the state.

During the event, the PM slammed the previous governments citing the example of the Gosikhurd dam project in Bhandara district, which got delayed for three decades.

“But after the double engine government came to power the Gosikhurd project is nearing completion now,” he said.

Deprived sections of the society have been a priority for the BJP government, he said, pointing to the various central welfare schemes such as the Ayushman Bharat and the Jan Dhan Yojana.

While inaugurating the Samruddhi expressway, Modi congratulated chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for completing the project in a time bound period that would be a game-changer in providing a major boost to the economic development of Maharashtra.

The 701km expressway – being built at a cost of about ₹55,000 crore – is one of India’s longest expressways, passing through Maharashtra’s 10 districts and prominent urban regions of Amravati, Aurangabad, and Nashik.

After inaugurating the Samruddhi Mahamarg, the PM also travelled on a 10-km stretch in a car, along with Shinde and Fadnavis. The length of the total project, officially named as ‘Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’, will be 701 km. The stretch under the first phase is 520 km-long.

Earlier in the day, he flagged off India’s sixth Vande Bharat Express between Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Nagpur. It’s the first Vande Bharat Express in central India.

He also laid the foundation stone of redevelopment of Nagpur and Ajni railway stations. Under the project, the Nagpur railway station will be equipped with enhanced waiting area and sitting capacity, a parking facility for two-wheelers and cars, 30 lifts, and 31 escalators to provide a world-class travel experience to passengers and boost socio-economic development in and around the station.

Other projects inaugurated by the PM included the foundation stone -laying ceremony of the National Institute of One Health, Nagpur and Nag river pollution abatement project. He also remotely inaugurated the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) at Chandrapur and Centre for Research Management and Control of Hemoglobinopathies at Chandrapur.

With PTI inputs