Porbandar: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (Feb 5, 2004) said India has emerged as a nation commanding great global respect because of "political stability" and the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who infused a sense of security in the nation.

He said in the last 10 years, the nation had seen seven Prime Ministers but the political stability and progress achieved during Vajpayee's five-year tenure has made India a highly-respected country across the globe today.

The Deputy Prime Minister was speaking after conducting the bhoomi puja for four-laning of Porbandar-Bhiladi section of the East-West corridor in the PM's ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project.

Asserting that India will emerge as a "developed" nation by 2020, he said, "The 20th century belonged to the Western countries but the 21st century will be India's."

On the occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister also outlined the developmental works undertaken by the Central Government in various sectors like health, power and supplying drinking water and spoke about Vajpayee's ambitious Grameen Sadak Yojna aimed at connecting six lakh villages.

Apart from progress, it was the Vajpayee Government which had infused a "sense of security" among the people of the country, Advani added.