New Delhi | Senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers and chief ministers, highlighted the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in a nationwide outreach on Monday to mark its nine years in office, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur expressing confidence of its re-election in 2024.
From India's "rising" global stature to emphasis on national security, welfare measures like housing and toilets for the poor, boost to piped water supply, infrastructure growth and efforts to ramp up the manufacturing sector were among the initiatives cited at the press conferences they held in every state of the country.
The BJP said in a statement that the country has witnessed "unprecedented" development in every sector with the mantra of "nation first" guiding Modi's policies.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in Lucknow that the Modi government's nine years have brought India safe borders and world-class infrastructure and increased its global esteem.
"In the last nine years, the Modi government has given the nation four strong pillars, which are respect, internal and external security, the welfare of the underprivileged, and infrastructure development," Adityanath said at a press conference organised on the completion of nine years of the Modi government.
Adityanath said that the last nine years have seen the emergence of a "new India".
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Guwahati that before 2014, the allocation for the railways for the northeast was Rs 2,000 crore but it has increased to Rs 10,200 crore under the Modi government, helping expedite projects in the region.
Modi also virtually flagged off the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express which will travel between between Guwahati in Assam and New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters in the national capital that India has forged an image as a self-reliant country while focusing on the uplift and welfare of the poor in the last nine years.
The Modi government is working with a focus on service, good governance and the uplift of the poor, he said.
Citing various central schemes, he said the Modi government has provided water connections to 12 crore households in nine years and given 9.60 crore cooking gas connections under the Ujjwala Yojna It has helped 80 crore people by providing them foodgrains under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna and covered 50 crore beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme.
Thakur said in Ahmedabad that the BJP will retain power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by winning more than 300 seats under Modi's leadership as it believes in the empowerment of people and not appeasement.
He said the Centre had constructed 3.5 crore houses for the poor and 11.72 crore toilets, provided 9.6 crore gas connections, given free treatment to more than 60 crore persons and free rations to more than 80 crore persons.
The Congress made records in corruption prior to 2014 while the Bharatiya Janata Party set benchmarks by introducing welfare schemes and creating infrastructure like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS in the past nine years, Thakur asserted.
"Before 2014, scams used to emerge at regular intervals. Today, every citizen feels the Modi government is his or her own government. We lifted 27 per cent poor citizens out of poverty. Four generations of Congress shouted the slogan 'garibi hatao' (remove poverty) but did nothing. Our government gave security and dignity to the poor," the minister said.
Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel said in Shimla that the government not only focused on “seva (service), sushan (good governance) and garib kalyan (welfare of poor)” but also bolstered the image of India at the international level in the last nine years.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said Prime Minister Modi's every policy and scheme revolves around poor people and their uplift, and alleged that corruption was rampant during the previous UPA regime.
He told reporters in Hyderabad that Modi is providing governance in a transparent manner that is free from corruption with a mission to maintain peace and security.
The BJP said it was due to the all-round development ushered in by the government that leading economists and analysts the world over are of the view that the "21st century belongs to India".
The prime minister has ensured that police should be about service, performance, reforms and transformations.
BJP leaders also made power-point presentations in their interactions to highlight the government's achievements.
Other senior party functionaries who addressed the media included Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Mumbai and Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Patna. Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Bhupendra Yadav and G Kishan Reddy spoke in Jaipur, Rohtak, Bhopal and Bhubaneshwar respectively.
The BJP has planned a month-long mass connect exercise from May 30, the day Modi government took oath for the second term in 2019. Modi is scheduled to address a rally in Ajmer in Rajasthan, the Congress-ruled state where assembly polls will be held later this year.
