"The government in Delhi thinks that just by bringing in the Food Security Bill, there will be food on your plate," Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign chief told students of Pune's Fergusson College.
Modi said, "There is a sense of despondency in the country today" and stressed that there was a need to modernise India without westernising it.
"There is a need to nurture talent for nation building," Modi said, peppering his address with achievements made by the Gujarat government in education and other sectors.
Modi, who once again found himself in the eye of a storm over his recent "puppy" remarks in an interview to a news agency, interacted with students of Fergusson College where he had gone to inaugurate an amphitheatre.
Underlining that education plays a crucial role in a nation's development, Modi said, "If we want to have a good education system, we should create good teachers, which has not been a priority."
Stating that "there is a big difference between 'others' and us", Modi said, "Other people are interested in power. We give priority to empowerment. They want power, we want to empower every citizen of this country."
"I don't want to make any political statements here, but have the expectations from the system been fulfilled?" Modi asked.
"After Independence, had we opted for modern education, we could have done a lot in these 60 years," he said.