The Presidential address to a Joint Parliament session reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s resolve to fulfill promises made in the BJP’s manifesto for the just concluded 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

A comparison between the BJP’s poll manifesto and President’s address to both the Houses on Monday gives an impression that the newly-elected NDA government borrowed mostly from the poll promise document for drafting Pranab Mukherjee’s speech.

Mukherjee in his speech, congratulated people for voting for a “united, strong, and modern India — ‘Ek Bharat — Shreshtha Bharat’”.

Mukherjee said the government pledges itself to the principle of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as it is committed to nurturing the right environment for actualising the sweeping mandate.

The speech also echoed the mantra of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ that Modi had chanted several times during his extensive campaign across the country.

The president’s communication, drafted by the government, to MPs lays the roadmap to Modi’s governance in the next five years.  

Rajendra Pratap Gupta, who authored the manifesto, agreed that the Presidential speech was “entirely based” on the BJP’s election manifesto.

“Some section of the people have always doubted the value of election manifesto dismissing them as mere documents for political rhetoric, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and party chief Rajnath Singh  have kept their commitment to implement everything promised in the poll document,” Gupta told Deccan Herald.

Feeling satisfied for putting effort in compiling the manifesto, the economist exhibited confidence that India will take a giant leap forward in the next 60 months under Modi.