After the Congress
released its manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party also unveiled its ‘Sankalp
Patra’. When one compares the manifesto of the Congress with the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s ‘Sankalp Patra’, it becomes evident that the former, although
dominating the nation for decades, has nothing but hollow promises to woo the
voters. In fact, a political party that hopes to achieve power in the nation
must assess the most pressing issues before the nation and create a vision
keeping the next 20-25 years in mind, outlining in its manifesto how it plans
to address these problems. Unfortunately, there aren’t many visionary leaders
in the Congress lately who can foresee the future and devise an action plan.
Hence, to woo the voters, they have made unrealistic promises that they know
won’t be kept.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, has released its
‘Sankalp Patra’ announcing its resolve about sectors that will be prioritized
over the next five years in addition to providing an account of the works
carried out by the Modi government over the last ten years. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has made ‘Viksit Bharat’, his prime resolution. And he is fully
aware of the path that must be taken in order to fulfil this resolution. In the
Sankalp Patra, he has also committed to raising the nation’s economy to the
third position over the next five years.
It may be recalled that after Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru, people
had equally laid faith in Smt. Indira Gandhi’s leadership. The common Indians
held Smt. Indira Gandhi in high regard. Through her actions – nationalization
of banks and termination of institutional wages, Indira Gandhi was perceived as
the ‘saviour’ of the working class and the poor. She had coined the phrase
‘Garibi Hatao’ in an attempt to appeal to average voters during the 1971
elections. She needed the support of such catchphrases like ‘Garibi Hatao’ in
the Congress’ internal conflicts to take on the party’s senior leaders. Even
the people from the Communist movement had support Smt. Gandhi for her
decisions to ‘nationalize banks’ and ‘cancellation of institution salaries’.
But in reality, poverty did not get eradicated, in fact it increased
exponentially. During the Congress government, the schemes existed only on
paper and the funds of these schemes ended up in the wallets of the middlemen
and brokers. Shortly after taking office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
initiated the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana’ and encouraged the nation’s
impoverished and destitute citizens to open bank accounts in public banks. This
aided the transfer of the benefits of various government schemes and financial
assistance directly into their bank accounts. The Congress leadership never
demonstrated a desire or intention to create a system similar to this. The
Congress leadership should, in my opinion, assess why capable economists like
Dr. Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram were unable to launch a program similar
to ‘Jan-Dhan’ during their 10-year term from 2004 to 2014.
Over the past ten years, the Bharatiya Janata Party took some
significant decisions to create ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. The Modi administration
and the BJP leadership are aware that India will need to achieve economic
self-sufficiency in many areas if it is to become the third largest economy
globally. The initiatives taken by the Modi administration to encourage
homegrown manufacturing have proven to be quite effective. The nation’s exports
of products and services hit a record high of $776.4 billion in 2022-2023,
compared to $468 billion in 2013-2014, implying that the country’s exports have
increased by almost 65% in the last ten years. This is the outcome of the Modi
government’s deliberate attempts to increase production and export. The Modi
administration is seeing the anticipated success with its efforts to foster an
atmosphere that encourages entrepreneurs to work hard to develop goods and
services of the highest calibre and to export their produce.
Modi government is also committed to constructing top-notch
infrastructure. It has allocated an incredible Rs 20 lakh crore to the
infrastructure sector in its 2024-2025 budget. With the construction of
national highways, expressways, tunnels, Metros, inland waterways and other
infrastructure projects, the nation is rapidly transitioning into a ‘Viksit’
nation in its true sense. Also, the number of airports has doubled in the
country in the last 10 years. In 2014, there were 74 fully functional airports
which has increased to 149. Air routes have also been developed on new routes
with nearly 517 routes being developed in the last decade.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to accelerate development
activities even more with the Modi government having an extensive list of
development projects. The biggest and noteworthy change that common Indians saw
between 2014 and 2024 was the nation’s ability to prevent terrorist activities
in the country. It may be recalled how, between 2004 and 2014, terror assaults,
including bomb explosions was rampant not only in Mumbai but throughout the
nation, shattering all internal security measures. In the past 10 years, there
hasn’t been a single terrorist attack, with the exception of the three
instances that occurred along the borders of Punjab and Kashmir. There were
numerous attempts by terrorists to carry out attacks but the intelligence
agencies’ diligence prevented them from succeeding. Prime Minister Narendra
Modi often uses the term ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’. The average Indian witnessed the
heroically executed airstrikes and surgical attacks to destroy terrorism. Also,
innovations like UPI fundamentally altered the way of life for the average
Indian. Investment in infrastructure led to creation of job opportunities. The
loan limit under Mudra Yojana has been raised from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in
an effort to further encourage self-employment.
This brings to the fore the striking contrast that exists between the
prophetic pledge to elevate India’s economy to the third rank in the world
within the next five years on one hand and the assurance of appeasement that
grants specific religions legal exemptions from national legislation on the
other.
(Article Pre-Published in
Times of India -22 April 2024)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief
Spokesperson
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