Lucknow: The Congress was responsible for India being dependent while PM Narendra Modi made the country self-reliant, said BJP president J P Nadda referring to the prime minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign here on Friday.
Addressing a “Prabuddhjan Sammelan” (meeting of the intellectuals) organised by the BJP’s Lucknow unit at Indira Gandhi Pratisthaan, Nadda cited a survey by a news channel, which showed Narendra Modi as the most popular prime minister and Yogi Adityanath as the most popular CM.
Nadda also took a jibe at former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whose name figured at the bottom of the list.
“The Congress always ridiculed schemes of Modi but these schemes had impact on lives of the ordinary citizens,”he said.
Nadda said the Congress made a “nirbhar Bharat” while Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an “aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India).
Referring to the poor law and order in the state during the earlier regimes, Nadda said, “By the efforts of the Yogi Adityanath government, not only the goons, even the leaders have understood what is law and order.”
Earlier addressing party workers during a “Booth President Conference” here., Nadda said his party has a leader and the intention to take it forward unlike other political outfits, which he accused of being dynastic.
He said “parivarvaad” (dynastic politics) can be found in all political parties except the BJP, in which an ordinary person can become a prime minister, defence minister or home minister.
The BJP president had arrived here on Thursday to hold discussions with party office-bearers in the state, where the assembly polls will be held next year. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also attended the event.
“We have ‘neta’ (leader), ‘niyat’ (intention), ‘niti’ (policy), ‘karyakarta’ (workers) and ‘karyakram’ (programme). We have no reason to stop,” Nadda told party workers.
He said ‘parivarvaad’ exists in all political parties, with the baton being passed on to the son by the father. “But it is in the BJP that an ordinary person can become a prime minister, defence minister or home minister,” he said.
“In the country, there are around 1500 political parties. Of these some are of national level, while some are of regional level. But, I always say that a person should consider himself/herself the most fortunate from the political point of view, if he/she gets an opportunity to work as a worker of the BJP,” he said.
Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nadda said, “Even the US was fighting against it, but what happened? It could not decide between the options of ‘arth’ (economy) and ‘swasthya’ (health).
As a result, it was a political issue, an electoral issue and there was an electoral loss. They had a better health system than us. Spain and Italy had better health system than us, but all of this collapsed because the leadership did not take the decision at the appropriate time. Here, Modiji took the decision at the right time, imposed a lockdown with timely intervention and bold decision, and saved the country.”
He added that at the time of the imposition of the lockdown, the testing capacity was 150 samples per day and today it is 10 lakh per day and in UP, it is over 1.5 lakh per day.
“At the onset of the lockdown, PPE kits were imported and today over 5 lakh PPE kits are being made per day,” he said.
“India has the best recovery rate and lowest mortality rate. Today, our recovery rate is above 97 per cent and it is increasing every day. UP’s population is 24 crore and the population of the US is 33 crore. There, the number of people who have died is four lakh. Every life is important. Here, it is 8,000. We have to understand this difference,” the BJP chief said.
Nadda said the image of India has changed due to the ‘swachhta abhiyan’ and the toilets constructed in various households are not merely toilets, they are “izzat ghar for women”.
“The Ujjawla Yojana was not merely a scheme, it empowered the women,” he said, adding that UP bothered about every migrant labourer, which passed through the state during the nationwide lockdown.
Nadda also mentioned the benefits of various schemes of the Centre and achievement of the BJP-led government, including anti-triple talaq law.
He urged the party workers to link every farmer with the FPO (farmer producer organisation) and told them to implement social harmony in letter and spirit.
Speaking at the event, Adityanath said the BJP has set new standards for political parties.
Dynastic politics, casteism, regionalism and linguistic divisions weaken democracy and challenge the unity and integrity of the country, Adityanath said.