"The country is not facing an economic slowdown, as a number of international companies are interested in investing here. Do not fall prey to rumours as investment has increased by 5 per cent," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a public rally at the S P College ground in Pune on Thursday. Modi was campaigning for the upcoming state assembly elections. While in the morning he went to Beed and Satara, later he visited Pune and addressed the rally attended by over 20,000 people.

Delivering his speech, the PM said, "This soil has given birth to and witnessed many revolutions, which has transformed the country. New India is fearless. Every nation is talking about India, and this is because 130 crore Indians have elected us and helped us work for them." He went on, "This is the land of freedom fighters where Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj spoke about swaraj while Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak had said that swaraj was his birth right. The decision to abrogate Article 370 faced a lot of obstacles but all the hard work has paid off. We believe in One Nation One Constitution. With integration we got inculcation, which resulted in investment, which further helped to set up industry and paved way for innovation."